- Title: Syria says U.S. halting aid to rebels is step towards ending war
- Date: 25th July 2017
- Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (JULY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) SYRIAN MINISTER OF RECONCILIATION, ALI HAIDAR, SITTING IN CHAIR SYRIAN FLAG VARIOUS OF HAIDAR SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN MINISTER OF RECONCILIATION, ALI HAIDAR, SAYING: "Halting the support and closing the borders and stopping aerial bridges into Syria, moving fighters into Syria, we are talking about 350,000 fighters who entered to Syria from all over the world during the last five years. Today we are talking about 150,000 fighters who are in Syria, all these steps are the start to solving the Syrian crisis, and without that there is no solution. As long as there are areas left like open wounds, there will be no solution." VARIOUS OF HAIDAR SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN MINISTER OF RECONCILIATION, ALI HAIDAR, SAYING: "The Syrian government and allied countries are working on many details for the de-escalation zones to pave the way for real reconciliations and this is the government's project. Other states that entered this project before wanted it to be a project that drained the Syrian government, and that is why it was broken several times" HAIDAR SPEAKING
- Embargoed: 8th August 2017 16:17
- Keywords: Syria rebels U.S.-backed Syrian rebels Bashar al Assad Syrian opposition anti-Assad Syrian rebels
- Location: DAMASCUS, SYRIA
- City: DAMASCUS, SYRIA
- Country: Syria
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0016R7UXJB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Syria views a U.S. decision to halt CIA support to rebel groups fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad as a "start" towards ending the six-year conflict, a government minister told Reuters.
National reconciliation minister Ali Haidar said what was really needed was for foreign states to completely seal off borders across which arms and fighters have flowed throughout the war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Haidar also said the government intended to reach more "reconciliation agreements" with insurgents in parts of Syria delineated as "de-escalation zones" under diplomatic efforts led by Russia.
His comments reflected the government's satisfaction with U.S. President Donald Trump's decision, announced by U.S. officials last week, to end the CIA programme set up in 2013 to equip and train certain vetted rebels. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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