The Syrian war

Syrian govt says civil war has reached stalemate

Syria’s deputy prime minister, Qadri Jamil, said on Thursday that neither side is strong enough to win the country’s civil war. He added that Assad’s government will call for a ceasefire if the proposed Geneva peace talks take place.

RT,

19 Sepetember, 2013

“Neither the armed opposition nor the regime is capable of defeating the other side. This zero balance of forces will not change for a while,” Jamil told the Guardian.

The two-year conflict has already killed more than 100,000 people and displaced more than one million refugees.

Jamil added that the Syrian economy has lost an estimated $100bn during the war - the equivalent of two years of normal production.

If the armed opposition in Syria accepts the ceasefire, it would have to be monitored “under international observation,” Jamil said. He added that such supervision could be provided by UN peacekeepers, provided they came from friendly or neutral countries.

Moscow and Washington say they are committed to bringing both sides of the conflict to the negotiating table at the Geneva-2 peace conference. An earlier set of talks in Geneva last year broke up after just one day and no Syrians attended.

Differences remain between Russia and the US over who should take part in Geneva-2. The US wants the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC) to drop its boycott of the talks and be the only opposition delegation at the conference. The SNC is calling on Assad to step down and previously stated that the demand is non-negotiable.

Russia has proposed that a combined delegation of Kurds should also be present at Geneva-2.

But Jamil said that outside powers must stop trying to influence the outcome of events in Syria.

He said that the Syrian government would be pushing to “end external intervention, a ceasefire and the launching of a peaceful political process in a way that the Syrian people can enjoy self-determination without outside intervention and in a democratic way.”

Qadri Jamil.(AFP Photo / Atta Kenare)Qadri Jamil.(AFP Photo / Atta Kenare)

Jamil is the leader of the secular People’s Will Party and co-chair of the Popular Front for Change and Liberation. He was appointed last year to end the monopoly of the ruling Ba’ath party in the Syrian government.

“We wanted to give a lesson to both sides to prepare for a government of national unity and break the unilateral aspect of the regime – and break the fear in opposition circles of sitting in front of the regime,” he said.

He added that Western countries need to step away in order for change to develop in Syria.

“For all practical purposes the regime in its previous form has ended. In order to realize our progressive reforms we need the West and all those who are involved in Syria to get off our shoulders," he said.

Ahead of the Geneva conference, French President Francois Hollande stated that he is in favor of sending weapons “in a controlled environment” to the FSA. "The Russians regularly send [weapons] but we will do it in a broader context, with a number of countries and a framework which can be controlled, because we cannot have a situation where weapons end up with Islamists," Hollande said during a press conference in the Malian capital of Bamako.

Jamil added that he didn’t believe the UN’s report on the August 21 chemical attack was fully objective, and cited evidence provided by Russia that the chemical weapons could have been sold to the rebels by fundamentalists from Libya. Last month’s attack is believed to have killed over 1,000 people.

While the shell casings that allegedly contained sarin gas were Soviet-made, they were exported during the 1970s and were since loaded with chemicals by fundamentalists in Syria.

Speaking at the Valdai Club, a conference of Western politicians and Russia experts in northwestern Russia, President Putin said that while he could not be 100 percent certain that the Syrian government would be able to accomplish the destruction of its chemical weapons within such a strict timeframe, he was hopeful that it would.

“I cannot be 100 percent sure about it. But everything we have seen so far in recent days gives us confidence that this will happen…I hope so,” Putin said.

Grounds to believe Syria chemical attack was smart provocation – Putin

Russia has every reason to believe that the use of chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb in August was an adroit and smart provocation, President Vladimir Putin has said.

RT,

19 Sepetember, 2013

“We have every grounds to believe that it was a provocation. Of course, it was adroit and smart, but, at the same time, primitive in terms of technical performance. They took an old Soviet-made missile, which was taken out of service in the Syrian army long ago. It was most important to have ‘made in the USSR’ written [on the missile],” Putin said at the Valday discussion forum on Thursday.

The Russian president pointed out that the August 21st attack in Damascus was not the first time chemical weapons had been used in Syria.

“But why haven’t other cases been investigated?” he asked.

The chemical weapon attack must be thoroughly investigated and those behind it must be identified, Putin told the Valday Club meeting in Russia’s Novgorod Region.

“No matter how difficult it might be, but if in the end we manage to answer the question… as to who committed that crime – and that was certainly a crime – the next step will follow. Then, together with our colleagues from the United Nations Security Council we will have to define the level of responsibility of those who committed the crime,” Putin said.

He stressed that measures like military strikes cannot solve every international issue, while should also be brought to the UNSC rather than discussed in the US Congress.

“This would be a strike on the world order, not Syria,” the Russian leader said.

‘No 100% guarantees, but Syria makes practical steps’

Putin also said that he cannot be 100 percent certain that the Syrian government will completely fulfill earlier reached agreements on dismantling the republic’s chemical weapons. However, the latest developments have given signs for hope.

“Will it be possible to accomplish it all? I cannot be 100 percent sure about it. But everything we have seen so far gives us confidence that this will be done,” he told journalists and experts.

Earlier this month, Russia and the United States reached a deal on a framework that will see the destruction or removal of Syria’s chemical weapons by mid- 2014. That came after Moscow suggested that Damascus should put its chemical weapons arsenal under international control and the Syrian government accepted the proposal. The republic also agreed to join the Chemical Weapons Convention which bans the production and the use of such arms.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (second left) attending the tenth anniversary meeting of Valday International Discussion Club in the Novgorod Region, September 19, 2013. (RIA Novosti/ Michael Klimentyev)Russian President Vladimir Putin (second left) attending the tenth anniversary meeting of Valday International Discussion Club in the Novgorod Region, September 19, 2013. (RIA Novosti/ Michael Klimentyev)

Speaking at the Valday gathering, Putin noted that Syria not only agreed to sign the international convention, but announced it already considers itself a party to the treaty.

“These are practical steps that the Syrian government has already made,” Putin said.

The United Nations confirmed last Saturday that it had received all the necessary documents from Syria for joining the chemical weapons convention and that Syria would become a member from October 14.

Russia’s proposal for Syria was voiced as the Congress was readying itself to vote on President Barack Obama’s plan to launch a limited military strike against Syria in response to the chemical weapons attack in August. The US blamed the country’s government for the incident. The decision was put on hold after a suggestion from Moscow, which was discussed in detail by Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva.

Putin dismissed allegations by some political analysts at the Valday Club that Obama’s acceptance of the Russian proposal on Syria was a face-saving move.

“It was not about saving anyone’s face,” he said. “[Obama’s] decision was based on real analysis of the situation. And I am very glad that our positions on the issue have matched,” Putin added.

Putin also reiterated that Russia is pursuing no special interests in Syria which would prompt Moscow to preserve the Assad regime.

He said that any attempt to interfere in the conflict by supporting one of the sides would bring imbalance. When the crisis began over two years ago, it immediately started getting support from abroad, he said.

“How did terrorist groups like Al-Nusra appear there? Even the State Department admits that Al-Qaeda’s branches are fighting [in Syria],” Putin observed.

The Russian leader is frustrated that Western states have no idea what they would do if, after their interference in the ongoing war, extremists came to power in Syria.

“Would they drive them away with a newspaper?” Putin said.

A handout image released by the Syrian opposition's Shaam News Network shows bodies of boys and men lined up on the ground in the eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus, whom the Syrian opposition said on August 21, 2013 were killed in a toxic gas attack by pro-government forces. (AFP Photo/Shaam News Network)A handout image released by the Syrian opposition's Shaam News Network shows bodies of boys and men lined up on the ground in the eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus, whom the Syrian opposition said on August 21, 2013 were killed in a toxic gas attack by pro-government forces. (AFP Photo/Shaam News Network)

No plans to destroy Syrian chem arms on Russian soil

Russia has no current plans to destroy the Syrian chemical weapons stockpile on its own territory under the deal reached between Moscow and Washington in Geneva, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said earlier on Thursday.

“A decision needs to be taken on this,” Shoigu told the Interfax agency when he commented on the matter. “We have factories for the destruction of chemical weapons, but there is a big difference between 'ready' and 'willing' to.”

The announcement was welcomed by ecologists.

“It’s good news. The elimination of Syrian chemical weapons on Russian territory could pose serious risks for the environment and people,” Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of the Ecodefense organization, said.

Ivan Blokov, the head of Greenpeace's Russian branch, added that the dismantling of Syrian chemical arms in Russia would not be reasonable, since the transportation of such arms may be even more dangerous. He suggested that the chemical weapons should be destroyed on Syrian soil.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said earlier he was committed to the chemical weapons agreement and vowed to hand over the country’s chemical arms for destruction. The plan will cost around $1 billion and take about a year to complete, he added.