LATEST: Syrian National Council: We Will Pull Out of Opposition Coalition If It Goes to Geneva Talks
SUMMARY: Even as the civil war escalates, Syria’s regime is promising more funds for reconstruction.
Discussing the 2014 State budget on Saturday, the Cabinet said it was raising funds “to compensate families whose houses were damaged” from SYP 30 billion (about $266 million at official rates) to SYP 50 billion (about $443 million).
More than 2 million Syrians are now refugees and more than 4 million are internally displaced, meaning that more than a quarter of the country’s pre-war population have left their homes.
The Cabinet also discussed @the repercussions of the terrorist attacks on the Syrian economy”, “the challenges resulted from increasing public spending”, rising prices, and falling Government revenues.
Syrian National Council: We Will Pull Out of Opposition Coalition If It Goes to Geneva Talks
George Sabra, the head of the Syrian National Council, has said it will pull out of the opposition Syrian National Coalition if it participates in an international “peace” conference.
Sabra said conditions for talks were not right while Syrians continued to suffer: “[We will] not to go to Geneva under the present circumstances.”
He added, “Ghouta [the area around Damascus and targeted by a regime offensive] is under siege and it is forbidden to even bring in bread. Are these the conditions that will allow us to achieve…a democratic transition in Syria?”
The US and Russia have been proposing the conference since April, but the opposition has refused to join unless President Assad agrees to relinquish power.
Sabra accused the international community of failing to punish the Assad regime after the August 21 chemical weapons attacks near Damascus.
