SYRIA: Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad dismisses talks in Qatar between splintered anti-Assad factions as 'laughable' and says that foreign forces are using the meeting to escalate the crisis in Syria

Record ID: 281569

  • Title: SYRIA: Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad dismisses talks in Qatar between splintered anti-Assad factions as 'laughable' and says that foreign forces are using the meeting to escalate the crisis in Syria
  • Date: 5th November 2012
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (NOVEMBER 5, 2012) (REUTERS) SYRIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER FAISAL MIQDAD WALKS OUT OF NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF MIQDAD GREETING REPRESENTATIVES OF U.N. ORGANISATIONS IN SYRIA (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER, FAISAL MIQDAD, SAYING: "The conferences that the United States and Israel hold for the opposition parties make us laugh. Becaus
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA6CXPMD191XY3MSLNWKG2EIAB7
  • Story Text: Splintered Syrian opposition factions are holding talks in Qatar on forging a common front for their war against the army of President Bashar al-Assad which Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister, Faisal Miqdad, said on Monday (November 5) were engineered by foreign powers to escalate the crisis in the embattled country.
    Miqdad dismissed what was the first concerted attempt to meld opposition groups based abroad and align them with rebels fighting in Syria saying the Damascus government could not take them seriously.

    "
    "The conferences that the United States and Israel hold for the opposition parties make us laugh. Because it (the U.S.) backs this party at times and opposes it at other times seeking to find new parties. When the opposition parties follow the desires of Israel, the United States and the Western countries, who stand against the interest of the Syrian people, this then achieves the main goals of such conferences which do nothing but help escalate the situation in Syria," said Miqdad.
    The 19-month-old conflict has killed more than 32,000 people and devastated swathes of the major Arab country.
    The war threatens to widen into a regional sectarian conflagration.
    Speaking to journalists in the capital Damascus, Miqdad said President Bashar al-Assad had already found a solution to end the crisis by calling for national dialogue including all parties.

    "The solution was defined a long time ago by President Bashar al-Assad who called on these parties to take part in national dialogue instead of staying at hotels," said Miqdad.
    Divisions between Islamists and secularists as well as between those inside Syria and opposition figures based abroad have thwarted prior attempts to forge a united opposition.
    The five-day Doha talks are intended to find ways of expanding and broadening the Syrian National Council (SNC), the largest of the overseas-based opposition groups, from some 200 members to 400, SNC politicians said.
    The United States called last week for an overhaul of the opposition's leadership, saying it was time to move beyond the SNC and bring in those "in the front lines fighting and dying".
    The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the meeting in Qatar would be an opportunity to establish a credible opposition.
    Internal feuding, a lack of cooperation between leaders abroad and fighters in Syria and the rising clout of autonomous Muslim militants in rebel ranks have deterred Western powers keen to see Assad gone from offering more than moral support.
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