“Terrorism cannot be fought only from the air, and all of the previous operations to combat it have only served its spread and outbreak,” Walid al-Moualem told the United Nations General Assembly.
“Air strikes are useless unless they are conducted in cooperation with the Syrian army, the only force in Syria that is combating terrorism,” he told the 193-nation assembly.
So far, UN efforts at mediating peace talks between the government and rebels striving to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have been unsuccessful. The four-year civil war escalated this week with Russia joining the bombing raids in Syria.
Syria ready to join UN working groups
Moualem suggested that it would be impossible to end the crisis in his country solely through political negotiations.
“No one should think that, after all these sacrifices and steadfastness for more than four years, they could obtain through politics what they could not win in the field, or that they will achieve at the negotiating table what they failed to achieve on the ground,” he said.
However, he announced that Assad’s government was ready to participate in a series of working groups set up by UN mediator Staffan de Mistura aimed at hammering out the framework of an agreement on a future political transition for Syria. However, Moualem added that the results of the working groups would be non-binding.
Moualem said that reforms related to democratic elections and the country’s constitution would have to wait while the government pursues its fight against what he characterised as terrorism.
“Syria cannot implement any democratic political measures related to elections, a constitution or the like, while terrorism is striking at home and threatens innocent civilians in the country,” he said...
france24.com
2/10/15
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