Main Syrian opposition objecting to meeting in Saudi Arabia pressing for unification with Russian-backed groups
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Riad Hijab, the head of Syria’s main opposition committee, has resigned ahead of a conference scheduled in Saudi Arabia aimed at “unifying” factions outside the country.
Hijab (pictured), who quit as Prime Minister and defected in August 2012, had led the High Negotiations Committee since its formation in December 2015 He gave no reasons for the decision:
After close to two years of hard work to preserve the glorious principles of the Syrian revolution….I find myself forced to announce my resignation from the HNC, wishing it good luck, and wishing peace and security to my beloved country, Syria.
Wednesday’s conference in Riyadh is to “bring the platforms and parties of the Syrian opposition closer” to one another and to “unify the opposition delegation” in the next round of UN-sponsored talks in Geneva, according to the Saudi State news agency SPA.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura effectively halted the Geneva process with the HNC alone by insisting on a “united” bloc with other groups. Russia has long pressed for the inclusion of the Moscow and Cairo groups, both of which Moscow favors in preferenceto the HNC.
The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition, the umbrella for the opposition since November 2012, and HNC have rejected the union. They argued that the Moscow and Cairo groups, with their links to Russia, are accepted by the Assad regime because the factions do not demand the departure of Bashar al-Assad from power.
The Moscow group includes Qadri Jamil, a minister in Assad’s Cabinet until October 2013, who has long-standing ties to Russia. The Cairo faction includes Jihad Makdisi, spokesman for the regime until he left Syria in December 2012.
Omar Kouch, a pro-opposition Syrian analyst, said Hijab’s resignation is “a rejection of what is going to happen in Riyadh and the alienation of the HNC”: “They are enforcing international agendas – and specifically Russia’s – onto the opposition, so how can they accept this?”
2nd Iran Commander Killed Within Days in al-Bukamal
A second Iranian commander has been killed within days in the fight against the Islamic State in al-Bukamal, in eastern Syria on the Iraq border.
Iranian media said Revolutionary Guards Gen. Alireza Nazari was slain in the offensive to take ISIS’s last major position in the country.
Last weekend Gen. Khairallah Samadi was slain by mortar fire.
Despite claims by Hezbollah media on Sunday that the town had finally been captured, fighting is ongoing. Well-placed sources have confirmed that regime army reservists were slain in clashes yesterday.
The Assad regime’s military also asserted more than two weeks ago that “complete victory” had been achieved, only for Hezbollah, Iranian-supported foreign militias, and regime units to withdraw from al-Bukamal after an ISIS ambush.
In an effort to boost morale, Iranian media has been circulating claimed photos of the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Forces, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, on the frontline.
