‘Serious’ Anti-Terror Fight Solution to Syria Crisis: Iran’s Deputy FM
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the solution to the ongoing Syrian crisis lies in a serious resolve to combat terrorism.
A political solution to Syria’s crisis requires a serious anti-terror fight, Amir Abdollahian said in a Wednesday meeting in Tehran with Ramzi Ezzedine Ramzi, deputy to UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura.
He added that terrorism should not be used as a tool to pursue “one-sided goals” in the Arab country.
Reaffirming Tehran’s readiness to help settle the Syrian crisis, the senior Iranian diplomat deplored attempts by certain parties aimed at violating a fragile ceasefire in the war-ravaged country.
Ramzin, for his part, stressed that Iran can play a major role in resolving the Syrian crisis via speeding up the ongoing diplomatic efforts.
Over the past months, several rounds of peace negotiations have been held on the crisis, but the discussions have so far failed to produce any tangible results.
The latest round of intra-Syrian talks took place in Geneva, Switzerland on April 13-27. The Saudi-backed opposition, known as High Negotiations Committee (HNC), walked out of the talks on April 19 to protest at what they called escalating violence and restrictions on humanitarian access in Syria.
A ceasefire, brokered by Russia and the US, went into effect on February 27 across Syria. Fighting, however, picked up and left the truce in tatters.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which has furthermore displaced over half of Syria’s pre-war population of about 23 million.
