Syrian Opposition Risks UK, U.S. Support over Geneva
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Britain and the United States have told the main Syrian opposition that they will stop their support if it fails to send a delegation to peace talks this month, British media reported on Tuesday.
"The U.S. and UK are telling us you need to go to Geneva," an unnamed senior official in the Syrian National Coalition was quoted as saying by the BBC and the Guardian newspaper.
"They are making it very clear that they will not continue to support us the way they are doing now and that we will lose credibility with the international community if we do not go."
But U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said that Secretary of State John Kerry, who was visiting the Vatican on Tuesday to discuss Syria, "did not indicate that the United States was planning to cut off assistance" in his public or private pronouncements.
Kerry has said "that there are high stakes at play for the SOC (Syrian Opposition Coalition) and that the international community strongly believes that it is in their interests and the interests of the Syrian people for them to send a representative delegation," she said.
According to the BBC, the Syrian official questioned whether Britain and the U.S. had any choice in who they dealt with, saying: "What is the alternative?
"They have a brutal dictator who used chemical weapons on one side and al-Qaida on the other, so who will they deal with, if not with us?"
Kerry expressed hope this week that the opposition would attend the so-called Geneva II talks set to open on January 22, saying they were a "test of credibility of everybody" in the conflict.
The National Coalition, the official name of the main Syrian opposition grouping, is divided over whether to attend the talks in the Swiss city of Montreux but is expected to make a decision on Friday.
"We urge it to attend and to put the spotlight on the Assad regime's responsibility to end this terrible conflict," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday.
The National Coalition official, speaking in London, said other western backers of the opposition were not applying the same pressure as Britain and the United States.
"France is asking us to go but saying that we are with you whatever your decision. That is the same as the Saudi and Turkish stance," the official was quoted as saying.
14 January 2014, 14:52
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The US is never a reliable partner. Right now, it could play a real leadership role, in making it clear as to whom it supports in the Syrian war. First, it must understand that now foreigners are fighting in a war that is not theirs. Two, they must unite the opposition groupings, give them all logistics and support, so that the opposition will begin making headways in the war. Only by doing so, would the FSA take heart and continue to remove, first the Jihadist sickmen, then confront the regime. But first a timetable that encompasses all these and more should be drawn from now. For once, let the US open its eyes, except if it wishes to continue driving blindly, and in the dark.
14 January 2014, 16:33
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The "Opposition" is completely dependent on handouts that have the tacit approval of the USA. The Saudis are not independent and the Qataris are already in line. The CIA trains the fighters and co-ordinates logistics. The SNC takes money from Western Governments. They will do as the are told. The Islamists that do not will find their supplies become more and more scarce. What will they eat this summer, they don't grow food? Sharia doesn't taste that good and doesn't have a lot of calories or protein in it.
