Coordinator of the High Negotiations Committee Riad Hijab warns HNC’s presence “won’t be justified” if Assad regime’s crimes continue
Syrian opposition websites reported Sunday evening that more than 100 people have been severely affected suffering from suffocation after barrel bombs containing poisonous Chlorine Gas was dropped on the town of Moadhamia-Sham, located in the suburb of Damascus.
Syrian opposition coalition said the Assad regime blew up a tunnel dug under the town while its helicopters dropped at least 66 barrel bombs on the town and its outskirts, some containing the poisonous Chlorine Gas.
Meanwhile the Syrian opposition announced it’s considering the U.N. offer after “positive” talks. This came following an earlier threat by the coalition that it would withdrawal from peace talks due to the continued disregard for the human lives by the Assad regime and its backers, Russia and Iran.
Reuters cited Syria’s main opposition group considering a proposal by U.N. special envoy that could pave the way to the delegation pressing ahead with talks after holding their first meeting with him on Sunday, a Western diplomatic source said.
Representatives of the Saudi-backed Higher Negotiation Committee (HNC), which includes political and militant opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, had warned earlier in the day that they may yet walk away from the Geneva talks unless the suffering of civilians in the five-year conflict is eased.
The United Nations is aiming for six months of talks that would focus on achieving a broad ceasefire, while working toward a political settlement to the civil war that has killed over 250,000 people, driven more than 10 million from their homes and drawn in global powers.
After the HNC initially insisted air strikes and sieges of Syrian towns must end before it joins the “proximity talks”, in which de Mistura would meet each side in separate rooms, there appeared to be some signs of a softening in their position on Sunday evening.
HNC spokesman Salim al-Muslat described discussions with de Mistura as very positive and encouraging “concerning humanitarian issues.” The delegation met for several hours later on Sunday to debate the proposal.
De Mistura made them a proposition, and that’s tempting them to enter the negotiations. They are very prudent,” a Western diplomatic source said, adding he was not aware of the content of the offer.
The delegation representing the HNC is seeking a halt to attacks on civilian areas, the release of detainees and a lifting of blockades. It has a list of 3,000 women and children in Syrian government jails.
The measures were mentioned in a Security Council resolution approved last month that endorsed the peace process for Syria.
“They want tangible and visible things immediately. Things they can give to their grassroots,” the source said. “Certain things aren’t possible immediately like the end of the bombings, but the easiest is the release of civilians, women and children.”
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the talks – the first in two years – as long overdue. “I urge all parties to put the people of Syria at the heart of their discussions, and above partisan interests,” he said during a visit to Ethiopia.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged both sides to seize the opportunity to make progress. “In the end there is no military solution to the conflict,” he said in a televised statement.