Iranian Foreign Minister Holds Talks with Syrian Opposition Leader

The Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi today met with the Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib at the annual international security conference in Munich. Mr. Alkhatib, the chairman of Syrian Coalition, also separately met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The meetings were the first between the Syrian opposition leader and the top diplomats of Iran and Russia, suggesting a possible breakthrough in efforts to broker an end to Syria’s civil war. Russia and Iran have been the staunchest allies of Bashar al-Assad. (Reuters, 2 February)

After a 45-minute meeting with Foreign Minister Salehi, Alkhatib told Reuters: “We agreed we have to find a solution to end the suffering of the Syrian people.”

File photo: Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib (Reuters)

Morsi Backs Syrian Revolutionaries – ‘They Have Will to Win’

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said in an interview with CNN on Sunday that he supports the people’s revolution in Syria, adding that he believes the people will win and will form a government of their own choosing.

“This phase is the phase of the people,” Morsi said. “Similar to what the Egyptian people wanted, the Syrian people want it. And we support the Syrian people, and they're going to win, and they have the will to win.”

“The Syrian people through their revolution and through the movement will -- when the bloodshed stops -- move to a new stage where they will have an independent parliament and a government of their choosing,” Morsi said. “And then they will decide what they want to do to those who committed crimes against them. It is the Syrian people who decide.” (CNN, 6 January)

Photo credit: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi during the interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Sunday 6 January 2013. (CNN)

Syrian Opposition Rejects Iran’s Peace Proposal

Syria's National Coalition, the country’s main opposition group, today denounced an Iranian peace proposal as a last-ditch bid save the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

“As the free forces of the Syrian people accomplish one decisive political and military victory after another, the regime and its allies keep on launching lackluster and overdue political initiatives,” said the National Coalition in a statement released on Friday. “The Iranian initiative represents one example of these desperate attempts to throw a lifeline to the inevitably sinking ship of the Assad regime.” (AFP/ The Daily Star of Lebanon, 21 December)

Iran, the most loyal ally of the embattled Assad regime, offered a six-point peace initiative on Sunday.

The plan did not envisage the fall of Assad’s regime, but instead called for “an immediate halt to violence and armed actions under the supervision of the United Nations.”

It also called for sanctions against Syria to be lifted, the start of national dialogue, the establishment of a transitional government, and free elections.

The National Coalition said the proposal claims to care about the lives, unity, and independence of the Syrian people, but if the intent was sincere, “the Iranian regime would end its support  to the Assad regime politically, militarily, and economically, and pressure the regime to leave as soon as possible." 

“The Iranian regime must seriously consider the future of relations between the Syrian and Iranian people, as the regime it supports is falling,” the Syrian National Coalition warned.

reform protest movement inspired by the Arab Spring but transformed into an armed uprising after the Assad government began brutally crushing demonstrations.

Photo credit: Damaged buildings in Homs. 18 December 2012 (Shaam News Network/Reuters/Daily Star, Thair al-Khalidieh)