Syria denies reported Assad quotes
Assad was quoted as telling the parliamentarians — days ahead of an internationally sponsored peace conference on Syria that “if we wanted to give up, we would have done so at the very beginning. We are on guard for our country. This issue is not up for discussion”.
Syrian state television said the Assad quotes on Interfax “are not accurate”. It also said Assad “did not conduct an interview with the agency”, although Interfax had not said that it had.
The comments attributed to Assad underscore differences between participants ahead of Wednesday’s talks in Montreux, Switzerland, seen as the most serious global effort yet to end Syria’s three-year conflict, during which Assad has enjoyed Russia’s protection.
Syria’s main political opposition group in exile agreed to attend the talks, dubbed “Geneva 2”, and said that three rebel groups supported the move.
The UN hopes the talks will bring about a political transition in the country.
Syria, however, said in a letter to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon last week that its focus at the peace conference would be on fighting “terrorism”.
Alexander Yushchenko, a parliamentarian and a member of the delegation to Syria, was quoted by Itar- Tass, another Russian news agency, as saying that Assad “suggested that his opponents announce their candidacy and run against him for the votes of the people... but so far however, no one has done it”.
Syria’s civil war, which started when the opposition armed itself following months of security forces shooting at pro-democracy protests, has devastated the country and caused millions to flee their homes.
Hundreds of thousands are trapped in besieged areas and polio has broken out as vaccination rates plummet. The war has left more than 100,000 dead.
In the besieged Damascus Yarmouk district — where 15 people have died of malnutrition — 200 parcels of food aid were delivered on Saturday, said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency. The delivery is tiny compared to the needs of the roughly 18,000 trapped residents and Mr Gunness said it would only feed about 333 people for a month.
Last Friday, John Kerry insisted al-Assad has no place in Syria’s future and the US had options to step up pressure on him.
“I believe as we begin to... get into this process, that it will become clear there is no political solution whatsoever if Assad is not discussing a transition and if he thinks he is going to be part of that future. It is not going to happen,” he said.
“We are also not out of options with respect to what we may be able to do to increase the pressure and further change the calculus.”
