National dialogue conference to be held in Syria soon

A joint committee comprising representatives of the Syrian government and opposition groups, which was established after a conference in Tehran in 2012, is organizing a national dialogue conference in the crisis-hit Arab country, an Iranian Foreign Ministry official said on Sunday.
Iran hopes that representatives of people of all walks of life and opposition groups will participate in the conference that the follow-up committee is planning to hold in the near future, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said at a meeting with members of the committee in Tehran.

The decision to establish the follow-up committee was made during a Syrian national dialogue meeting hosted by Tehran on November 18 and 19, 2012. The meeting was attended by about 200 Syrian citizens, including religious leaders, party leaders, political figures, tribal chiefs, and representatives of Syrian opposition groups, as well as representatives from Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, and a number of other countries.

Iran has supported the Syrian government throughout the two-year-old revolt against the rule of Bashar al-Assad.

Amir-Abdollahian said that Iran’s stance toward Syria would not change, adding, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported and will continue to support a political solution, national dialogue, a halt to the violence in Syria, and non-interference” in the country’s internal affairs.

He also criticized the countries which provide “irresponsible” Syrian rebels with weapons and embolden them to continue their acts of violence.

Members of the committee also held a meeting with the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, on the same day.

During the meeting, Jalili said that arming opposition groups fighting the Syrian government constitutes a violation of international law, adding, “The Syrian people do not allow the enemies of Syria to make decisions on their behalf.”