Arab FMs Stress Need to Pressure Syrian Regime to Respond The Will of International Community

A member of the Syrian government forces watches the evacuation operation of rebel fighters and civilians from Aleppo.

Cairo, 20 Rabiul Awwal 1438/20 December 2016 (MINA) – The Arab foreign ministers said in their emergency meeting of the Council of the Arab League on Syria that the continuation of the tragic situation in Syria poses a threat to Arab national security and global stability, stressing the need to impose the necessary pressure on the Syrian regime to respond to the will of the international community represented in the UN resolutions.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir expressed in his speech before Monday’s meeting at the headquarters of the Arab League Saudi condemnation of all the terrorist acts that have taken place in the Arab countries, pointing out that the Syrian regime bears responsibility for the tragedy in Syria, SPA reported.

He said, “The Syrian regime is the one who refused to enter into any serious negotiations, continued the killing of his own people and brought terrorist organizations and sectarian militias into Syria, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs called for putting pressure on the Syrian regime to reach a political solution.

Meanwhile, DPA reported from Cairo that regime forces have swept through almost all the east Aleppo enclave in recent weeks, Following months of intense military bombardment.

Even activists who had stayed throughout years of airstrikes began to plead for evacuation, fearing for their lives if they fell into the hands of government forces who were poised to capture the last few rebel-held districts.

In rebel-held Idlib province, where many are expected to head after being bussed at first to the countryside west of Aleppo, a charity worker said her organization was providing “the bare essentials” to arriving evacuees.

“A lot of them just had the clothes they were wearing,” Nada Hasem of the US-based Karam Foundation charity told DPA.

“They were besieged for quite some time … they were starving and freezing in this besieged territory,” she added.

Hasem warned that housing evacuees from Aleppo in Idlib was just a “temporary fix,” amid widespread speculation that the province, a bastion of hardline Islamist rebels and jihadists, may be the next target for government forces. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)