Al-Zoubi: We will not discuss any Geneva communiqué item before discussing stop of terrorism

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said “we will not discuss any item from the first Geneva communiqué under any pressure or context before discussing stopping violence and counterterrorism and reaching agreement on this issue in detail.

In statements to the press on Tuesday, al-Zoubi said that the fact that the official delegation will not avoid discussing any item, not even the transitional government, but it insists on discussing the first item which is counterterrorism, while the other side and its backers and Saudi funders are afraid to broach this issue because it will lead to discussing the reality about terrorist organizations and armed groups and how they are funded, armed and trained.

“The other side and its backers know as well that when the issue of counterterrorism is broached, we have intelligence, documents, pictures from inside their training camps and of the ships and the planes that land and weapons, and names, so they’re afraid of broaching this detail and know in advance that once they enter this discussion, facts and real scandals will be exposed, which is why they are in a state of preemptive terror, and because they lust after power, they insist on discussing the issue of the transitional government,” he said.

Answering a question on UN Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi submitting an agenda that discussed violence and terrorism on Tuesday and the transitional government on Wednesday, al-Zoubi said that submitting an agenda isn’t one of Brahimi’s tasks; rather he can merely suggest one to the two sides, and the one he suggested isn’t acceptable to the official delegation.

“Can we envision that in two hours, we can discuss the issue of terrorism? After all that happened to Syria and after the conspiring? After meeting with the worst faction in the opposition which is Ford’s faction that has ties with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, Jabhet al-Nusra, and all other terrorist organizations, and whose hands are stained with blood?” He asked.

Al-Zoubi said that the other side knows that the official delegation has documents and files that indict specific figures, not just groups, with their own statements, such as when their boss al-Jarba says that the Islamic Front are rebels and not terrorism, stressing that this is a direct indictment of al-Jarba and proves that he is connected to a terrorist organization.

He asserted that the coalition’s desire to discuss terrorism in a single hour then moving on to the transitional government is a farce and a sign of lack of professionalism, betraying the internal conflicts and disarray among its members.

The Minister noted that the way issues are proposed during talks shows that even the British, American experts and the ones from other nationalities – who are staying in the same place as the coalition where they coach and direct them – are out of sync, and that instead they should be in sync with themselves and present synchronized propositions, because these sessions aren’t history lessons.

On the press conference of Brahimi, the Minister said there was nothing new for Brahimi, adding that it is clear that the coalition doesn’t respond to him and has no desire to help him at all.

He added “when we talk about stopping terrorism, we talk about a comprehensive vision on the file of terrorism which means defining what is terrorism and who are terrorists, where they have come from, who finance, arm and lead them and how could we stop them and dismiss the foreign elements outside Syria.”

The Minister said that the coalition delegation talks through a vision which is distant from the ground and geography, distant from the people’s concerns when they say that they have no relation to the martyrs as they even didn’t condemn Maan massacre.

Al-Zoubi added that Syria’s official delegation is authorized to discuss any issue in Geneva, but any agreement that could be reached, it will be proposed to the Syrian people who have the last word, affirming that the official delegation is part of the people and behaves in light of this fact.

On the nature of the tripartite meeting of Russia, US and Brahimi next Friday, al-Zoubi said that the US “supported the political process during the first round of talks through arming the terrorist groups and we don’t know what is the US step now,” clarifying that cooperation with the Russian side is continuous whether from Geneva or Damascus.

The Minister affirmed that resorting to the UN Security Council on the humanitarian issue to exert pressures on Syria will fail for realistic reasons, adding that there are documents which prove that Syria, as a government, has spared no effort, to offer the humanitarian aid to all Syrians without any exception.

He added that the question that should be directed to the UN, gunmen, the US and the French Foreign Minister is “what is the situation in the regions besieged by the armed terrorist groups linked to the coalition and other regions including Adra, Nubul and al-Zahraa.”

Al-Zoubi: condemnation of Maan massacre is minimum behavior that UN should adopt

In a relevant context, the Minister affirmed that condemnation is the minimum behavior that the UN should adopt towards the massacre perpetrated by the armed terrorist groups against families of Maan village in Hama countryside.

Al-Zoubi told Syrian al-Ikhbariya TV in an interview, that the UN secretary General’s condemnation is important and good, but he should not stop at this point, otherwise, the international organization has to seriously unify the efforts to combat terrorism to which Syria is exposed.

He said that Ford’s coalition has categorically rejected to condemn terrorism or discuss counter-terrorism, and this indicates they support terrorism, particularly the US which decided during the first round of talks to arm what it called “the moderate opposition.”

The Minister added that Ford’s condemnation or non condemnation of Maan massacre is not important, as he will not do so except if he received the instructions from his references, affirming that the Syrian government is determined to combat terrorism on land, separately from Geneva process and the political track.

He made clear that the collation delegation has no desire to discuss counterterrorism, but to tackle the transitional government because they deal with Geneva 1 communiqué as if it was one item which includes a transitional government, while the Syrian official delegation came to Geneva in accordance with Geneva 1 communiqué as a whole.

Al-Zoubi said that the instigators of the humanitarian file in Security Council aimed at practicing pressure on Syria and talking about so-called humanitarian corridors which violate the national sovereignty and form passages for the crossing of weapons to the terrorists.

He concluded by saying that what the French, Saudis and Turks hope for is not possible at the UN Security Council or at any other arena.