ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — With the fifth round of United Nations-brokered negotiations underway in the Swiss city of Geneva between pro government and opposition factions, amid increased violence in the Syrian countryside, the High Negotiations Committee for the Opposition (HNC) took the position that President Bashar al-Assad must go.
“We cannot accept any role for Bashar al-Assad or any of his cliques at the beginning of the transition or in the future,” the HNC posted in a statement online.
Naser al-Hariri heads the opposition delegation for this round of peace talks in Geneva.
“The only commitment the regime and its backers continue to show is the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure,” Hariri also tweeted on Monday.
The HNC’s stance for the removal now aligns with that of Turkey.
"As far as our position on Assad is concerned, we think that the suffering of (the) Syrian people and the tragedies, clearly the blame is squarely on Assad. But we have to be pragmatic, realistic," said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek.
"The facts on the ground have changed dramatically, so Turkey can no longer insist on a settlement without Assad, it's not realistic," he added at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.
The Damascus countryside has seen increased attacks in the past week with both sides blaming each other, or their proxies, or international backers for the violence.
The UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura has called on Russia, Iran, and Turkey to restore a ceasefire.
“Growing violations in recent days are undermining the ceasefire regime addressed through the Astana meetings, with significant negative consequences for the safety of Syrian civilians, humanitarian access and the momentum of the political process,” Mistura said.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has claimed the use of ground-to-ground missiles by the regime on the outskirts of the capital city within the past week.
“Sixteen civilians, including a child, were killed and around 50 others wounded in an air strike on the main street in the town of Hammuriyeh,” SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The UN has estimated at least 400,000 people have died because of the six-year-long conflict and half of Syrians have left their homes.
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