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UN envoy’s Aleppo proposal positive step: Expert

Friday, 07 October 2016 6:54 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 07 October 2016 6:56 PM ]

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura attends a press briefing on the Aleppo situation at the UN offices in Geneva on October 6, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

The UN envoy's proposed plan for Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terrorists to leave the Syrian city of Aleppo is a “useful compromise” and a “positive step” forward that would prevent the further escalation of the conflict in the Arab country, says a Middle East expert.

“I think the inevitable defeat of the terrorists is in the cards, but the cost would be enormous for the country and for the city and for the people. The question is whether the US and the United Nations leadership will go ahead and direct the terrorists to leave under their auspices,” James Petras told Press TV in an interview on Friday.

He also expressed hope that the US would use its influence over the terrorists to ask them to withdraw from the city.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed Moscow’s interest in the proposal put forward by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura about escorting Takfiri terrorists out of the divided northwestern city.

Petras further stated the terrorists have been used as a proxy for Western intervention, adding that they are clearly "intruders and do not represent the Syrian people."

The analyst also expressed hope that US President Barack Obama would rethink his support for the terrorists in Syria.

“One would hope that at this point the Obama administration recognizes that they are not a viable ally, that they are a disruptive force... [but] the continuation (of Washington's support) will only escalate because there is pressure in the United States among right-wing extremists for the US to intervene directly to save the lives of these aggressors, which would only escalate the war even further and escalate the destruction,” he said.

Aleppo has been divided since 2012 between government forces in the west and the militants in the east.

Moscow and Washington support opposing sides in Syria, which has been grappling with deadly militancy since March 2011.

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