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S Arabia tries to legitimize terror groups in Syria: Pundit

Thursday, 17 March 2016 1:29 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 17 March 2016 1:27 PM ]

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura (2nd-L) meets with a delegation of the so-called High Negotiations Committee (HNC) during the Syria peace talks at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva on March 15, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Press TV has conducted an interview with Catherine Shakdam, director of the Shafaqna Institute for Middle East Studies from London, about the refusal of the Syrian delegation to hold talks with the so-called High Negotiations Committee (HNC) in the Swiss city of Geneva.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: If you were to take a look at what the Syrian envoy to the UN has said in this case negotiator at the talks. Well he has a point, he won’t talk with the terrorist entity and that’s what Jaysh al-Islam is and that’s been regarded by the international community. Why would there even be any hint of talks from Jaysh al-Islam with the Syrian delegation?

Shakdam: Well, that’s the problem and I think the only reason why these entities actually involved in the peace talks in the first place is because of Saudi Arabia. I mean the Saudi are the ones who have been insistently pushing for peace talks and trying to maneuver the peace talks and kind of derail them into some kind of, I would say, forcing the president of Syria to engage with terror militias.

I think these are very insistent move here to try to legitimize terror groups in Syria and that would actually allow foreign platform or exit of president to be set and to let the same thing to be maybe repeated across the region - Iraq, Libya maybe Yemen or even Bahrain.

And I think that’s the problem here. I think you need to understand this attempt by Saudi Arabia to push its terrorist agenda before the UN, which is actually quite important here, trying to legitimize and somehow institutionalize terror, trying to pass its pawns as if they were legitimate negotiator at the table and that they actually are entitled to sit and negotiate with state officials, who themselves carry popular legitimacy.

It’s a very very dangerous move and of course Syria doesn’t accept any form of negotiation with terrorists and why should they?! Those people have come into their country, they are actually foreigners and not even they don’t represent the Syrian people whatsoever.

And they carry an agenda which is not only dangerous to the Syrian people but the world entirely. And it’s important really to understand that the power behind them is actually Saudi Arabia because without the support of Saudi Arabia I very much doubt that such an … of Islam would have been able to walk itself to the UN.

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