SUMMARY: Syria’s Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil said on Thursday that an international “peace” conference is planned for November 23-24 in Geneva.
Jamil made the announcement during a visit to Moscow.
The US and Russia first proposed the conference in April, but it has been repeatedly delayed by failure to agree on conditions. Opposition groups have refused to attend without a commitment that President Assad will step down from power.
Jamil did not say what breakthrough had been achieved to set a date for the gathering.
Moscow: Decision Over Granting Syrian Christians Citizenship To Be Discussed At Highest Government Levels
A spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that a request by Syrian Christians to be granted Russian citizenship would be considered at the highest level of government.
Moscow has claimed to have received a request from “around 50,000” Syrian Christians who asked Russia’s Foreign Ministry to grant them citizenship to “protect them from terrorists”. The move from Russia appears to be part of Moscow’s wider propaganda campaign to slur the insurgency.
Canadian Employee of UN Freed After 8 Months
Carl Campeau, an employee of the United Nations Disengagement Force, has been handed to the UN after going missing in February.
The Syrian regime accused insurgents of kidnapping Campeau, a lawyer who worked for UNDOF, which patrols the Golan Heights near the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Campeau had been kidnapped in Khan al-Shih in Damascus Province.
