Alwaght | News & Analysis Website

Alwaght- An Egyptian diplomatic source said that Cairo intends to keep ‘Bashar al-Assad’ as the country's president in office so as to solve the political crisis in Syria; however, the opposition should participate in the government. A new round of negotiations to create a unified view among the Syria opposition is on the way. Cairo again will be hosting the negotiations in June 8 and 9 to complement the previous negotiations of the Syrian opposition. Badr Abdel Atty, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman said that “the objective of the conference was to express a broader vision of the Syrian opposition spectrum, to work towards ending the Syrian crisis”. But an Egyptian diplomatic source said: “Cairo continues to coordinate with Moscow to create a mechanism to obtain the consent of the opposition and at the same time keep Assad in office, in a way that opposition can have a role in the government.” Cairo is trying to exert pressure on the various parties to take advantage of its influence to get concession and thereby create a real solution to the crisis, a solution that is far from foreign military intervention, and preserves the Syria's territorial integrity. “Egypt does not dictate any terms to Syrian opposition leaders, but different perspectives will be discussed… in secret meetings, Cairo tries to know the differences between the opponents.” It is agreed that Bashar al-Assad remains in office, but it remains unclear whether they have agreed that he can remain in office until the end of his presidency or early elections would be held ... Currently, the most important point is to form a coalition government that represents all opposition spectrum, and internal conflicts come to an end, and fight back the ISIS."
"Arab, Kurdish and all faiths will attend the meeting to elect a political committee to adopt a roadmap and a policy charter," said Haytham Manna, a veteran opposition figure and a key organizer of the event. A new meeting called "Syrian National Opposition" is supposed to begin. After hosting a meeting in Cairo last January, this meeting will be held with the participation of domestic and foreign opposition. At the end of the meeting, a ten paragraph document will be set based on the political solution for the Syrian crisis. The meeting as a whole, is different from the "National Coalition", a coalition which receives financial support from Western countries, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. Manna emphasizes: “It will be a Syrian-Syrian meeting, 100 percent financed by us, not controlled by anyone, and managed by someone with a pure Syrian agenda, Egypt would only host the conference and not interfere in it.”
The veteran opposition figure said the Cairo meeting will examine two main issues on agreed solutions that the Syrian government might agree with. ‘Bassam al-Malek’ an Egyptian resident said the two issues that will be discussed at Cairo meeting are:
One, the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad to remain in power for two years with a transitional government to run the country's affairs until after these two years, an early presidential election is held.
Second, to agree that during this period, Syria is run by a transitional law, or according to the law made in 1950.
The second round of talks between the Syrian officials and the Syrian oppositions that Moscow will host next April, will be held after the second conference of Syrian oppositions that Cairo hosts in the same month.
Accordingly, Cairo from a few days ago would be hosting the Coordination Committee of the Syrian National Opposition. Mohammed Bassam al-Malek, a member of the Syrian Opposition Coalition said Egypt has a comprehensive initiative for a political and military solution to the Syrian crisis which will be discussed. The Syrian Opposition Coalition have accepted Egypt’s initiative; however, it is different from that of Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria crisis, there are efforts to transfer to Egypt the talks over the Syrian crisis.
The Egyptian initiative for Syrian crisis was introduced exactly when a Russian Foreign Ministry source said that a meeting between representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition will be held in Moscow next month and will take four days. The UN has welcomed the initiative of Moscow for talks between the Syrian government and its oppositions, which is scheduled to be held in Russia next January. Mohammed Bassam al-Malek member of the so-called "Syrian Opposition Coalition" supported by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and the United States, said that there are some trends to transfer to Egypt talks over Syrian crisis. While Russia is trying to get together the Syrian Opposition and Syrian officials for talks in Moscow, Egypt’s initiative with whatever background, is unintentionally parallel to Russia’s efforts, and poses the question: ‘Has the initiative targeted Moscow, which has recently become the axis of Syrian crisis after the recent defeats of Saudi Arabia and the United States to overthrow Assad’s government in Syria?’
Mohammed Ali Hussein, a Syrian analyst believed that the Syrian opposition will never form an alliance, the United Nations’ call for a political process to resolve the Syrian crisis, given the US intervention, is a plot to overthrow Damascus, which is unlikely to happen. The new organization of the Opposition only adds to the complexity of the conflict in Syria, a subject of high priority for the enemies of Syria, as Syria has recently been facing the highest armed militia attacks. The new organization, called the ‘Syrian Nationalist Opposition’ comprised of military opposition which will be introduced in Cairo, in fact includes heads of militia groups in Syria.