Syrian government demands Brahimi sever ties with Arab League in order to cooperate

On Wednesday evening the Syrian government hinted it will not cooperate with the United Nations peace envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, unless he severs ties with the Arab League.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted a statement made by the Foreign Ministry that, “Syria will cooperate with Brahimi and will continue to do so only as a UN peace envoy as the Arab League is involved in conspiring against Syria.”

Syria expressed its anger towards the Arab League after it handed Syria’s seat in the national coalition to the opposition – which aims to overthrow Bashar Al-Assad’s regime – last month.

According to SANA the statement also said “If Brahimi wants his mission to succeed, we expect him to start work with the concerned parties to put an end to the violence and terrorism along with its sources, and to expose the roles played by the European countries, especially France and Britain, as well as Turkey and some Arab countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which all finance, arm, and train Al-Nusra Front’s terrorists and groups associated with it, helping to smuggle them into Syria.”

It added, “If Brahimi wishes to continue his mission, he must show impartiality as a UN mediator that adheres to the Charter of the United Nations and international law, and must also realise that the Syrian people are the only ones authorised to determine their future and choose their representatives without any interferences. Brahimi must not be impartial to any side over the other, especially if this side is, as everyone knows, made up of combatant groups from the Al-Nusra Front, which is associated with the terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda and commits acts of terrorism against the Syrian people.”