Syrian opposition coalition slams Arab League's final statement as 'waste of time'

The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces has strongly criticised the final statement of the Arab League’s summit in Kuwait, which called for a political solution to solve the Syrian crisis without including concrete actions to press the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad, describing the statement as a “waste of time”.

Syria has been torn apart after a democratic uprising in 2011 was violently suppressed, turning into a three-year long civil war that has killed more than 140,000 people.

A member of the National Coalition, Hadi Al-Bahra, said in a statement on Wednesday that: “The regime of President Al-Assad proved unserious about solving the conflict through a political solution during the Geneva II conference. Therefore, the Arab summit’s final statement, which does not call to support the revolution through specific actions that could pressure the regime, is a waste of time.”

The first round of talks on the Syrian crisis was held from 22 to 31 January in Geneva, Switzerland while the second round lasted from 10 until 15 February, without any results.

Al-Bahra explained that: “Wasting time gives Al-Assad regime a license to commit more crimes without fearing any punitive measures that could be taken against him.”

Prior to the 25th Arab League summit, which ended in Kuwait on Wednesday, the National Coalition had demanded for the Arab leaders to support the Syrian opposition with anti-aircraft weapons to tip the military balance of power on the ground.