Syrian opposition renews rejection of Assad remaining in power
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The head of the Syrian Negotiation Committee, Anas al-Abdah, said yesterday that the Syrian opposition renewed its rejection of “the survival of the regime’s president, Bashar al-Assad”.
Al-Abdah stressed “writing a new constitution for Syria is the only option for the Syrian Constitutional Committee”.
Al-Abdah’s statements came in response to what the Russian President’s Special Envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, said “If somebody pursues the aim of creating a new Constitution for the sake of changing the powers of the Syrian president and thereby trying to change power in Damascus, this road leads nowhere.”
If the opposition really believes that some changes are required, then “it should put forward some concrete proposals and not indulge in speculations that there can be no changes as long as Bashar Assad is in power,” Lavrentiev added.
In a series of tweets, al-Abdah said the statements of Russian officials regarding the political process are completely separate from the basic principles of UN Resolution 2254.
He pointed out that the problem of the Syrian opposition is not only the constitution, and the UN resolution is too broad and comprehensive to be reduced to the constitution or the regime’s approval of it.
Al-Abdah added that the Syrian opposition accepted to participate in the political process for the full implementation of the UN resolution 2254 and the political transition.
He indicated that the UN envoy, on more than one occasion, identified the party responsible for the obstruction, which is “the Assad regime”, so what Russian officials say is incorrect and subjective, and it threatens the entire political process”.
The Russian President’s special envoy to Syria had also said, in an interview with the Russian TASS agency, that “Assad” is satisfied with the current constitution, and sees no reason to change it, while the Syrian opposition sees the need for changes.