Source: Inclusion of France in Syria Contact Group “No Offer of Iran”

An informed source dismissed an Arab media report alleging that Tehran has proposed inclusion of France in the quadrilateral contact group on Syria, which now consists of Iran, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

“Iran has made no comments on the presence of countries like France in (settling) the Syrian crisis,” the informed source told FNA on Monday.

Earlier today the Arabic paper, al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, quoted Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Yasser Ali as saying that Iran has proposed the inclusion of Paris in the contract group on Syria.

“Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Yasser Ali has not raised such an issue and the media have misunderstood his comments,” the source said, adding that a precise reading of Yasser Ali’s remarks shows that he has not mentioned Iran as the proposing side for the inclusion of France in the quadrilateral contact group on Syria.

Yasser Ali was quoted by al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper as saying today that “Iran has proposed the inclusion of certain countries to the innovative plan of the quartet committee proposed by Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi to solve the crisis in Syria.”

He also said that other participants in the quadrilateral meeting have endorsed Tehran’s view about the need for the inclusion of other states, like France, in the contact group on Syria.

During the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which was held in Mecca on August 14-15, President Mursi proposed the formation of the contact group on the situation in Syria with Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey as its members.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

In October 2011, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of increasing unrests in Syria.