Iran Hosts Syria’s National Dialogue Conference

Iran hosted on Sunday the Syrian National Dialogue Conference, as it warned against arming militants in the crisis-torn country.

“Some countries envisage arming the opposition with heavy and semi-heavy weaponry,” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in a speech to open an inter-Syria dialogue in Tehran.

“In reality, they seek to legitimise publicly what they have been doing in secret,” Salehi said, without naming any country.
On Monday, EU foreign ministers at talks in Brussels are due to discuss lifting a strict embargo on arms deliveries to Syria. France has publicly said it favours sending “defensive” weapons to the Syrian opposition.

The initiative would allow the arming of the so-called “National Coalition” of opposition groups formed in Doha on November 11.

Salehi said such arms deliveries would set a dangerous precedent and constitute “a clear interference in the affairs of an independent country.”
“It will spread insecurity, the risk of terrorism and organised violence in all of the region,” he said.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and its main allies, Iran and Russia, accuse some Arab and Western countries of having secretly provided weapons to militants in Syria for months.

The opposition “National Coalition” has asked for weapons to bring down the Syrian regime.
Russia has warned that providing the coalition with weapons would be a “gross violation” of international law.