Syrian Rebels Reject UN Plan to Stop Fighting

• 03.03.2015, 17:54
•  Near East,  World

After two days of meetings in Turkey, Aleppo's newly formed Revolutionary Council said on Sunday that they refuse to meet the envoy unless he proposes a comprehensive solution to the Syrian crisis that excluded President Bashar al-Assad and his government, aljazeera.com reports.

"We refuse to meet with Mr Staffan de Mistura if it is not on the basis of a comprehensive solution to Syria's drama through the exit of Bashar al-Assad and his chief of staff, and the prosecution of war criminals," - a newly-formed Aleppo revolutionary council said on Sunday.

Many representatives of Syrian opposition and rebel forces accuse UN envoy Mr Staffan de Mistura of working in the interests of Bashar al-Assad's regime. "Mistura is implementing the regime agenda and we know the places which he visited when he was in Damascus", - said the Spokesman for the revolutionary forces in Aleppo during his interview to the Anadolu Agency on Monday. Opposition believes that UN envoy's plan is the realization of "regime's demands" and cannot be unbiased. It is also worth mentioning that UN diplomat angered Syrian rebels last month by saying Assad was "part of the solution" to the Syrian conflict. But for opposition, non presence of Assad in peace process is a principal question, they stress that "will not accept a deal that involves a person who destroyed our country, killed or displaced our people". Besides, according to abcnews.go.com, they claim, that UN plan undermines the Geneva platform, which states that there should be a political transition in Syria toward democracy by the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers.   

On Saturday De Mistura held talks in Damascus to try to finalize a deal for freezing the fighting in Aleppo. He met Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and agreed to send a delegation from his office to Aleppo on a fact-finding mission. He also made a surprise visit to a church near Damascus as a sign of solidarity to the country's Christian minority targeted by jihadists.