Jarba: says the National Coalition supports a political solution if it serves the objectives of the revolution and the Syrian people.
QNA/Doha
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has affirmed that “Qatar will always be with the Syrian people and will never give up supporting Syrians”, said the president of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, Ahmed Jarba.
Talking to Qatar News Agency (QNA) on the sidelines of his visit to Doha this week, Jabra said that Qatar was “a key country in the Syrian issue and among the first countries that supported the Syrian Revolution”.
Jarba said that he and a delegation from the coalition had met HH the Emir who affirmed that Qatar was and would remain supporting the Syrian people and their revolution.
He added that he had discussed with HH the Emir political issues like the Geneva conference.
Jarba said that he came to Doha leading a delegation from the coalition to mobilise political and military support and relief for the Syrian people.
In a response to a question about the features of a political settlement to the Syrian crisis given that some political forces had demanded that President Bashar al-Assad should continue in power, Jarba told QNA that any solution to the political issue should not include Bashar and his clique.
He said that Bashar should be punished for his crimes in which more than 100,000 people had been killed and “that is why we can never accept him to remain in power during the next phase”. He said that a political solution to the Syrian crisis should mainly include the departure of Assad and his corrupt junta.
“The National Coalition supports a political solution if it serves the objectives of the revolution and the Syrian people,” Jarba said.
He added: “Geneva conference represents an aspiration but certain circumstances may prevent us from going to Geneva, especially when the situation on the ground is not in favour of the revolutionaries.”
He explained that the Free Army was now reinforcing its positions after suffering a retreat due to the involvement of troops of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah in the war to support Assad.
He indicated that Hassan Nasrallah had told a TV channel that forces of Hezbollah entered Syrian territories in order to secure the capital.
He stressed that they would participate in negotiations only when the Free Army and revolutionary forces were stronger on the ground.
“Now the situation is better than 20 days ago,” Jarba stated, saying that a major attack on Homs and Damascus’s outskirts had been carried by regime forces. Homs, however, remained steadfast, he said.
Jarba expected that the Free Army would bring Horan and Damascus, Aleppo and Idlib north and east under its control, adding that Homs would be a challenge to Assad’s forces. “We hope this and we think that the revolutionaries have an unshakable conviction to fight when they have enough arms.”
He called for stronger Arab, regional and international reaction to the crisis.
He said that the Iranians were involved in the Syrian war and “I consider that Syria is now under occupation and the whole world is watching this in the absence of a strong and real reaction”.
Jarba affirmed there are contacts with Russia but it was obvious that Russia had taken a decision to support the Assad regime forever.
He said that he had held talks with the US Secretary of State John Kerry recently, describing the meeting as positive and “we have asked military and political support”.
He expressed his belief that the US position might change positively for the benefit of the Syrian revolution.
