Syria Supports Establishing Real International Anti-Terror Coalition: Al-Jaafari

DAMASCUS, (ST)- Syria supports establishing a real, honest and objective international coalition to fight terrorism in coordination and consultation with the Syrian government and with the participation of the Syrian Arab Army, Head of the Syrian Arab Republic’s delegation to the Intra-Syrian Dialogue in Geneva Bashar Al-Jaafari has stressed.

Interviewed by the Beirut-based “al-Mayadeen” channel on Monday, al-Jaafari said “We have had no objection to the establishment of an international anti-terror coalition…President Bashar Al-Assad has from the very beginning called for establishing such a coalition, but the problem was that some parties wanted to fight terrorism in Syria and Iraq without coordination with the governments of the two countries.”

“This is why the US-led coalition against terrorism failed in achieving its goals, while the Syrian-Russian coalition has been more effective in fighting terrorism and has scored positive results in this regard,” al-Jaafari added.

On the Geneva Intra-Syrian talks, al-Jaafari stressed that the talks are a Syrian-Syrian dialogue held without foreign interference and that Syria’s future is decided by the Syrians themselves.   

“The second round of talks was more substantial than the first one as we became close to sensitive points in the indirect dialogue and we moved towards the beginning of breaking the stalemate,” he said.

“One of the major problems we have faced in Geneva was the refusal of the [Riyadh opposition] the principle calling for the secularism of the Syrian state… This principle was provided in (Vienna1) statement and we have accepted it because secularism is the best option for preserving Syria’s diversity, richness and history,” al-Jaafari clarified.

He went on to say that the “successful military operations and the progress of the Syrian Arab Army in Palmyra has given us important motivation in Geneva talks, because it proved to all sides that the Syrian government is serious about fighting terrorism.”

According to al-Jaafari, the Russian-American rapprochement serves Syria’s interest because it supports the cessation of hostilities agreement and encourage engagement in Geneva dialogue as to reach positive and tangible results.

Al-Jaafari also affirmed that the crises in Syria and Iraq in addition to the Palestinian cause have showed the shortcoming of the international law. He pointed out that a big part of the tragedy the Syrians have been experiencing was caused by the anti-Syria stances of the Arab League.

Hamda Mustafa