Jaafari: Syrian Government Delegation was positive, Open . Terrorism Issue Discussed in Full

MOSCOW, (ST)_ In a  news conference after the end of the sessions of  Moscow discussions yesterday, head of the  Syrian delegation, Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari said that his assessment of the meetings  is positive, pointing out that convening  the consultative meeting in Moscow helped  to break the stalemate that had existed since the beginning of the crisis and that the Russians friends succeeded where others failed .”

Jaafari  denied  leaks speaking about disputes between the government delegation and delegations of the oppositions  and  stressed that  differences were among the oppositions themselves, adding “ nevertheless  we agreed with the Russian friends that consultations  should continue to hold a next consultation  meeting to be agreed upon through diplomatic channels.

In response to a question about the agreement on the issue of counter-terrorism,  Jaafari said ” we discussed the issue of terrorism fully and  firmly on the meeting agenda and  the Russian mediator was  supportive in that and therefore  special item was issued on this item  in Moscow principles.”

On the place of the next round of consultations , Jaafari indicated that it was agreed to continue consultations with all parties including the government delegation through the Russian mediator to agree on the next steps, noting that the Syrian government aspires that preliminary consultation meetings to come up with a national dialogue conference in Damascus.

Jaafari said that “the government delegation and  the oppositions acknowledged the existence of foreign terrorism over the Syrian territories and agreed on the need to confront it , noting an important item in Moscow principles  that calls for increased humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, preservation of the state institutions and support for the Syrian army.”

Jaafari added  that the Syrian delegation asked the Russians friends to add two items demanding  consensus of  the participants  to demand the liberation of  the occupied   Syrian Golan Heights to June 1967 border lines, and  the need to unite the Syrian government and the opposition  behind the request to lift the oppressive  unilateral  economic measures  imposed on the Syrian people , noting  that two items were approved  , but few oppositions objected matters relating to fighting terrorism.

On his  personal evaluation of the performance of the opposition in talks, Jaafari pointed out that there is no personal evaluation and that the Syrian government delegation attended Moscow meeting as a representative of the state and government, pointing out that what” we have observed was that we were before oppositions and not just one  opposition and they differed  among themselves before  us.”

Tomader Fateh