Brussels Conference overshadowed by suspected attempt

Once again, on the sidelines of the meeting of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council, Foreign Ministers of the European countries made their interventionist statements against Bashar al-Asad’s government, while the combat against terrorist groups in the country and recent diplomatic negotiations have given Syrian people a hope to end the conflict.

Bashar al-Asad has no place in future of Syria, said the European foreign ministers, but the final decision about Asad is up to Syrian people, they further added to maintain their diplomatic gesture.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, stating that the return to current situation in Syria will be impossible, further added that 'it seems completely unrealistic to believe that the future of Syria will be exactly the same as it used to be in the past.'

“But there is one thing which cannot happen – that a dictator who committed horrible crimes in the region remains untouched,” was a disparaging remarks made by the German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel.

'France cannot believe for one moment that Syria can be led by Bashar Assad,” said the French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault as a biased opinion.

After all these comments, Western and Arab media tried to bold the suspected incident in Khan Shaykhun, south of Idlib Province, mainly accusing the Syrian government.

The Syrian military command, stressing upon false accusations made by the terrorist groups due to their failure in battleground, denied allegations of using chemical weapons by the government forces.

On the other hand, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the Syrian rebels’ factory of producing chemical weapons was exploded by the Syrian air force.

“Every time we have a moment in which the international community is capable of being together, there is someone that somehow tries to undermine the feeling of hope by producing a feeling of horror and outrage,” said Staffan de Mistura, the U.N Special Envoy for Syria, stressing that 70 countries attend Wednesday’s conference, in a joint press conference with Mogherini on Tuesday.

However, we are not going to give up and we show them our determination that they cannot prevail, he further said.

Meanwhile, the Brussels Conference on supporting the future of Syria and the region was held on Wednesday with the U.N and the EU and the contribution of Kuwait, Qatar, and Norway as the conductors.

A plan known as the regional initiative of the EU was presented by Mogherini in 2016.

The initiative brings the countries in the region together to address the issues of reconciliation and reconstruction after the political transition which paves the way for successful EU backed intra Syrian talks under the U.N supervision, according to official sources of the EU.

Holding this conference is part of the efforts made for adequate preparation for the post-war period in Syria following the U.N backed peace talks in Geneva and before the political transition there will be no funding for reconstruction except the humanitarian aid, stressing EU as the leading donor, said Mogherini.

There will be a dramatic reduction in essential aids for millions of refugees due to lack of funds, said the United Nations high Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as a word a warning on Tuesday.

However, the humanitarian needs are rising in Syria and around 13.5 million people are in need of assistance.

In a paradoxical situation like this, with the U.S government contradictory positions on one hand and the continuation of interventionist comments of the European governments in addition to their positive signals to the terrorist groups in Syria on the other, Brussels Conference seems more like a masquerade of no major consequence to show off the political gestures in support of post-war Syria reconstruction.

An end to the war in Syria requires regional and global political players’ serious decisions to cut off terrorist groups’ support.

Written by: Babak Jafari
Translated by: Mohammad Reza Elkaee
Edited by: Javad Baghaeenejad

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