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Subscribe to RSSAMMAN — Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz Alkhatib said on Sunday he was willing to hold talks with President Bashar al-Assad's representatives in rebel-held areas of northern Syria to try to end a conflict that has killed about 60,000 people.
The aim of the talks would be to find a way for Assad to leave power with the "minimum of bloodshed and destruction," Alkhatib said in a statement published on his Facebook page.
Sources in the coalition, an umbrella group of opposition political forces, said that Alkhatib, a moderate cleric from Damascus, met international Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in Cairo on Sunday.
Brahimi played a main role in organizing meetings between Alkhatib and the foreign ministers of Russia and Iran, Assad's main supporters, in Munich last week.
The sources said that in their talks on Sunday the two men addressed the question of whether the coalition would formally endorse Alkhatib's peace initiative.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which controls a large bloc within the Islamist-dominated coalition, is against the initiative.
But the Brotherhood, the only organized political force in the opposition, is unlikely to challenge Alkhatib's authority directly, with his initiative gaining popularity in Syria, the sources said.
The Syrian authorities have not responded directly to Alkhatib's initiative — formulated in broad terms last month. But Information Minister Amran al-Zubi on Friday repeated the government's line that the opposition was welcome to come to Damascus to discuss Syria's future in line with Assad's proposals for a national dialogue.
Alkhatib has headed the Syrian National Coalition since it was founded last December in Qatar with Western and Gulf backing. He has quietly built a student following and links with civic and religious figures across Syria.
Renewed fighting
His latest offer of talks coincided with opposition reports of fighting moving closer to central Damascus, after a rebel push into the east of the capital last week.
The Local Coordination Committees, a network of grassroots activists, said clashes broke out on Sunday in the al-Afif neighborhood of Damascus, which is adjacent to a presidential complex.
The organization said 77 people were killed in Syria on Sunday, including 16 people who it said had been executed by Assad's forces in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor. Such reports are impossible to verify as Syria severely restricts access for independent media.
The war is pitting Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has dominated Syria since 1960s, against the Sunni majority that has led the protest movement.
When Alkhatib made his offer of talks last month, he made this conditional on the authorities starting to release tens of thousands of political prisoners jailed since the eruption of the 22-month uprising.
The United Nations said on Friday that it saw a glimmer of hope in Alkhatib's offer.
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said the offer was "the most promising thing we've heard on Syria recently".
On Sunday, Alkhatib spelt out ideas on a venue for talks.
He said: "If the regime is so concerned about sovereignty and does not want to venture out of Syrian territories, then there is a suitable solution, which is the liberated land in northern Syria."
He added: "There is an important question. Will the regime agree to leave with the minimum of blood and destruction?"
Syria's uprising, which started as peaceful protests against four decades of autocratic rule by Assad and his late father, has turned into a violent sectarian conflict.
Prisoners
Freedom for political prisoners is an important issue for the opposition. Alkhatib said even centrist opposition figures who were willing to talk with Assad, such as Abelaziz al-Khayyer, a veteran Alawite human rights campaigner, have been jailed.
"The regime deals with the demands to release the political prisoners, especially the women, in a totally inhumane way," Alkhatib said. "Despite two years of savage killing, the regime is still trying to buy time."
The scion of a religious family who have historically been custodians in the Umayyad mosque in Old Damascus, Alkhatib was a proponent of a negotiated solution while he was in Syria. But he was jailed several times during the revolt in secret police dungeons and was forced to flee the country.
Alkhatib said the regime missed a "rare opportunity' by not agreeing to release women prisoners by a deadline he had set for Sunday, but that he was compelled morally to continue to try to negotiate a peaceful exit for Assad.
Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh in Cairo
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this guy is dreaming if he thinks assad will give up power !
"The aim of the talks would be to find a way for Assad to leave power with the "minimum of bloodshed and destruction", Alkhatib"
Islamic clerics are the best in the business of dreaming.
Sunni clerics are creating new world records in dreaming.
Look at their Islamic religious orders/fatwas.
Assad should agree for peace talks and like a typical Muslim should blow up bigoted Sunni Syrian rebels at the same time.
my error wrong key
No peace. Keep killing eachother until there isn't anyone left.
Hello @bow2me, why should anyone attack you for speaking the truth. The Foreign Policy dynamics have gotten so bizarre that I think most Americans don't know what to think.We armed Al Qaeda in Libya and Syria so I guess our government considers them good Al Qaeda and are fighting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Mali so I guess they are bad Al Qaeda.
I think they should let the people of the country decide via a referendum, after all that seems to me to be the fairest and most democratic.
not sure what you mean by "we armed al quada in libya". Certainly we didn't directly send arms to known al quada organizations. I'd like to see a link if you have on to support your post?
vermontguy;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8407047/Libyan-rebel-commander-admits-his-fighters-have-al-Qaeda-links.html
"The vast majority of Libyan fighters(/Iraq "insurgents") that included their hometown in the Sinjar Records resided in the country's Northeast, particularly the coastal cities of Darnah 60.2% (53) and Benghazi 23.9% (21)."
http://www.ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/aqs-foreign-fighters-in-iraq.pdf
I guess dealing record arms contracts with Saudi Arabia so they could arm them and providing cover with our 75% 'ownership' of NATO might not quell your unwavering patriotism but it doesn't change the fact that we're backing the same people that were killing our soldiers in Iraq only a few years ago.
your post proves nothing. Some libyans went to iraq, no doubt some al quada foreign nationals went to libya. doesnt' prove we are directly supporting al quada organizations, as I posted.
I do get a laugh out of that story about "25 people with links to al quada" are fighting in libya. Yawn. lol. wow, 25 people! OMG!
If you don't support moderate organizations in africa/middle east, you will help the fundamentalists like al quada even more. Is that what you prefer?
bow: if you can show me the error of my ways, i'd appreciate it. :)
nothing that was posted shows that we have different policies towards "good" and "bad" al quada groups. whenever possible we are fighting al quada in every country that we can find them in.
You get an F for effort though. :)
keep truckin'
How am I "just backing my guy"? lol. You mean if I don't agree with you, i'm a mindless obama drone? you're funny.
I'm just pointing out that africa/middle east is a complicated area, and our influence is not nearly what we'd like it to be. Unless we unilaterally back hated military dictators (saddam, ghadaffi, mubarek), we're going to be helping al quada (and everyone else but hated military dictators for that matter). Our policy, starting at least back with bush jr, is to no longer support military dictators (and in some cases work actively against them) in lieu of supporting a democratic approach. Unfortunately, with elections has come much confusion in most of these countries. Heck, al quada opposed saddam..and now they oppose the shia majority in iraq. In egypt, they opposed military rule, now they oppose morsi. Nice "black and white" views of the world like you want to have just don't work there.
Why don't YOU answer your question first, if you don't want to rehash history?
Pick A country. " OK" USA-Here is an idea: The congress could pass A bill to fund a plan with say fifty billion dollars to start the club. If these 11 million people Who are under water on their mortgages, could form a mortgage free club, With the Federal Government setting it up and jump starting it with 50 billion dollars, and each of the 11 million underwater home owners putting a hundred dollars each month into it, they could raise over a billion dollars each month, holding the liens on the peoples homes, who get paid off. With this money, they could have a drawing, and pay off so many mortgages. Say the first month they paid off 150,000 homes, these150,000 could continue to pay a hundred dollars plus, say twenty percent, or say fifty percent of what they were paying on their mortgage before to help others keeping; a close record of all money transactions. this figure would grow each month, and become more effective. as people would have more income to use in their own lives's. They could work out a plan that would be more effective, also. for the ones who won the first months draw, 150,000 people then have those pay fifty percent of what they were paying plus a hundred. Or another more thought out plan. These people have the power to save billions of dollars in interest, if they were to somehow get something like this going. Also, this could be used in other things to, like paying off vehicles, or investing etc.! At the end they could continue to send 100.00 dollars until they all got back everything they paid in, in cash!
Another thought on this plan above, since the banks, do not really want to deal with this problem, they should not really mind losing this business, They would just sorta just be relieved of the problem, As they get their principle back so to speak! This would leave 11 million people mortgage debt free, with plenty of cash, and this would help the real estate, and the economy to!
We sent them no weapons. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and several other countries sent them weapons we only provided air cover at NATO's request. Obama resisted taking action a long time but finally agreed to assist as long as the U.S. didn't take a leadership role. With the hundreds of NATO troops lost fighting for us in Iraq and Afghanistan Obama couldn't refuse backing our allies. Kadafi supporters were supporting a cruel dictator do you really think they deserve any sympathy or Obama any blame? Your hatred is irrational trying to blame Obama for Libyans killing each other? The method of killing is irrelevant why bring it up? Dead is dead.
I see some danger signals like you.
One does not hear much about the thrashings one got in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other places.
In Iraq, more than a million have been killed till now.
Nobody bothers much about those places.
All of a sudden some 60000 being killed in Syria becomes a big news.
Iran's nuke are coming close to the US.
Most ignore that "strategic ally" Pakistan gave stolen nuke technology to Iran.
As the soldiers will be soon free from Afghanistan, new wars in Iran or Syria are getting ready!
Hello folks. WOW! Our First Amendment is now under siege! @bow2me posts have all been deleted, why? I read his posts yesterday and none crossed any negative threshold or violated Newsvine's rules. Expect to see censorship much more from here on out as the presstitutes are only following orders from their corporate and government masters to quell dissent. As you can see our government is desperate as events around the globe are spinning out of control. Countries are aligning themselves against the dollar and are asking for their gold back which we don't have.
Folks, pay attention to the news, not the corporate owned news but to Independent outlets:
www.guardian.co.uk
rt.com
www.zerohedge.com
www.jeanhaines.com
Do you really think something so scandolous is going to be done in broad daylight? Do some research and connect the dots. Here is another little known piece of investigative journalism and a video from 2007 that should gain relevance these days.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all
and my favorite...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha1rEhovONU
I don't think Assad is going to leave under any condition and the opposition is too fractured to follow through with any agreement. Hopefully , though, both sides will continue to keep open a diplomatic dialogue and such will be supported by all religions and cultures in the ME. Especially Iran, the US, Russia and China. It truly is the Opposition and Assad supporter's only hope to actuate ANY of their goals
I don't support either side, but we need to take this FACT into account: Assad's military is much, much more powerful then we have been led to believe. They have WMDs in the form of chemical weapons. If Assad is pushed into a corner, he will practice mass genocide on the opposition held territories. Many, many people with families support Assad and rely on him and his military to protect them. They know they will be killed if this fractured opposition movement gets their hands on them. The media needs to take this FACT into account when addressing this Syrian situation.
bow, from what you explained about their military, it still makes the opposition military look like children with sticks and stones.
bow, the question of the century is how and from who is Assad getting the resources to keep his military viable.
There are millions of people in Syria, How many millions, want the country to be ruled by Assad, compared with, How many are against Assad. That would be interesting to find out. One way to look at it is If there are less then a million who are fighting to take over or is it ten million who want change. If twenty million do not want the Rebels to control this is a valid question, does anyone know the answer?
Unless we invade Syria Obama will not be able to "Cut and Run" from another Country
When you make a statement like that; You are, also saying that the entire US military minds, and the congress are inept as well as the President! You are wrong, I'm not the expert, but there is a whole world of problems and things to consider, that we are not able to understand, because they do not tell the average person so many things that are being planned. So the quick reflex, knee jerk statements like yours is, is well, of no value or less than no value. Statements like this does not work anything good for the country, not just yours, but so many others, like yours who sometimes work against the country you are claiming to love so much. Here is some good advice! Think twice and speak very carefully about things you do not fully understand.
It looks like Assad is going to try to hold out to the very last man. He is digging his grave.All the while the rebels are willing to do whatever it takes to win their country back.Having lived under oppression,suffered the hardships, loss of loved ones, understanding the depths of pain, surely each knows what is at stake. They appreciate what the taste of freedom will really mean.Therefore, are willing to die for its cause, so others will at least have it.
For one who has wielded so much power for so long, the only meeting this dictator will agree to it seems, will be his own death.For he is gambling with high stakes.And those around him better make sure they are willing to throw their lot in with his 100%.
I truly believe there is a power syndrome which takes over the minds of some of those who have made themselves the ultimate authority over their country. In their minds, they are invincible and no one can stop them. For such people, the power they have, can be a source for good or evil. Making them great leaders, great killers, or little men with great ambitions.
Genghis Khan had it, overcoming every enemy he faced, but death from illness, Alexander the Great had it, conquering the known world,but met the same fate. Hitler started WW2, killed over 13 million(7 million Jews), only to take his own life. Stalin killed over 50 million Christians,and Chairman Mao killed up to 70 million through executions and starvation. More modern dictators have ruled with an iron fist,killing countless numbers of their people, while other countries have killed millions as well. The list goes on.
Then we have Assad, who seems to think he's untouchable, backed up by larger countries supporting him. It may take him literally seeing death stand before him, before he realizes his days of power are truly over and his back is against the wall. For one who has had so much power for so long over so many,that just might be inconceivable.Too bad those other countries helping don't see the light.
There is a saying,"One man fighting for family,home, country, freedoms and liberties, is worth ten hired soldiers." For he is fighting with all his might, mind and strength, his very soul and love encouraging every fiber in his being.While their allegiance per se is the cost paid. Money cannot buy such devotion and sacrifice.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't, Americans hold most of the U.S. debt? If Americans, hold the major debt of the country; will we sink ourselves when and if that time would ever come; Or would we work around the problem? Just saying! I have heard some talk about amortization before would that solve the immediate problem, if it were to come to that?
It seems like you commenter's are asking and answering your own questions! Are you all a bunch of wind bags? who have a one track mind. Afraid to answer it might wake you out of a deep sleep! Or it could burst your bubble way of thinking! Can you handle the truth? Is any other way of thinking scare you? Oh well go back to sleep like you were!
IF there are peace talks,....it will be like shooting fish in a barrel for Assad. "....peace, peace and there is no peace". Remember, these are muslems we are reading about here.
Just watch the events unfolding in Syria and Iran.
US and allies' foreign policies, actions and wars are decided by the oil rich Sunni rulers, oil companies, extremist Jewish US lobby and their lobbyists!
There was rebellion of Shiites against the despotic and highly corrupt Sunni ruler of Bahrain.
Brave Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwaiti, UAE and other Arab League nations sent their forces and just quelled the Shiites rebellion in no time.
All of a sudden, these seventh century fountainheads of Sunni Islamic haters and killers, remembered “human rights violations” in Syria.
So the Sunni rulers of Arab League sent “human rights” group to Syria.
The head of the Saudi and their Arab League observers to Syria was a Sudanese Gen. The brave Gen was responsible for the genocides of at least 300000 Christians in Darfur!
Still House of Saud ruler and his 5000 princes and princesses and other Sunni rulers seventh century desert dances did not work.
Later they outsourced their dirty work to Turkey.
You see: Turkey is a strategic NATO ally and too much of Turkey’s seventh century Islamist Erdogan’s dances mean US, Britain and other NATO forces members have to pitch in.
What a way to outsource their dirty jobs to NATO forces just like Iraqi wars to save Kuwaiti, Saudi and other “oil rich” rulers!!!
Assad will never again truly be the leader of Syria. Once this train got rolling, it can never be put in reverse. Even if he holds on to the Presidency, the people will never abide by his rule. You just can't be the boss, when all the people have no respect for your authority. He would be wise, to take the money, and run. He has so much hiden wealth, he could easily set up camp in some beautiful island paradise, and leave the turmoil to the leftovers. (not that he deserves anything less than assasination for his crimes against civilians)
Syria will never again be under Assad authority.
Hate to disagree with you, a great deal of people in the U.S. do not like or want the president we have but are forced to follow his wants.
That whole part of planet is a wasteland. I feel bad for the Israelis, being so close to so much putrid garbage. Its like living in paradise, surrounded by ghetto. Hindsight, they should have believed that Hawaii was "the promised land" they could have Hanukkah on the beach, and not have to smell the stench of Islam..
Seems to me the muslim brotherhood will win again and control another country. Odumbo keeps allowing the brotherhood to do what it wants in the middle east and soon to come to the U.S.A. if odumbo has his way. Before you say I am nuts, check out odumbos book, it says if the winds change he will side with the muslims, his words not mine.
The "Rebels" are kidding themselves...Assad is not going anywhere...unless he's in a pine box...
the real power in iran, the ayatollah, has decided that his talking head has outlived his usefulness. i really believe the santions that have been placed on iran are starting to squeeze them very hard. so this gives the clerics an opportunity to pretend they are going in another direction. but of course they are not! any country that is completely run by religous zealots does not generally do well. their hatred for israel and the u.s. keeps them in power and helps them control the people. its all about control. a separation of church and state is a very good thing. but almost all midddle eastern states have the same problem. the religous people run the government. so many times their goals are not the same as an elected government. instead of using revenues to improve the lives of the people, the money is used to attack countries that the clerics hate. and i do mean hate! of course when you are looking through the color of glass they look through everything is fine. but i will say one last thing. if they attack the u.s.a. or israel they will cease to exist as a country!
interesting... my comment earlier... vanished... guess MSNBC and the gov didnt like it
The Syrian rebels only want to get Assad some place they can find him and blow him -- and all the rebel representatives and news reporters -- to hell in one simple blast. They don't want Assad around after the war to cause problems for their Muslim Brotherhood backers, the Russians and Iranians.