| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian Opposition PM Rejects Dialogue with Assad Regime |
| 2013-03-20 |
| [An Nahar] Syria's opposition will not enter into dialogue with the regime of President Bashar Assad, the country's newly elected rebel prime minister said Tuesday in his inaugural speech. "We confirm to the great Syrian people that there will be no dialogue with the Assad regime," Ghassan Hitto said. Hitto was chosen early Tuesday by a majority of the main opposition National Coalition members, after hours of closed-door consultations. The 50-year-old will be tasked with setting up an interim government which would be based in rebel-held territory in Syria. The election comes some two months after Coalition chief Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib proposed talks with regime officials with conditions, including that some "160,000 detainees" be released. Several Coalition members told Agence France Presse the election of an interim rebel premier and the establishment of a government cancelled out the possibility of talks with the regime. "The regime ended that proposal (for talks), not the opposition. The idea behind the proposal was to relieve the Syrian people's pain," Coalition chief Khatib told AFP. "The proposal for talks ended before we elected an interim prime minister," he added. In a speech laying out the new government's priorities, Hitto called the regime "a gang" that "destroyed the country". "The main priority we have before us is to make use of all tools at our disposal to bring down the Assad regime," said Hitto, while pledging to offer "all possible assistance" to residents living in areas free from army control. |
| Posted by:Fred |