Russia says retreat of Syrian opposition figures good for peace
Russia said on Tuesday that the resignation of “radically-minded” Syrian opposition figures such as Riyad Hijab would help unite the disparate opponents of President Bashar al-assad around a more “realistic” platform.
Hijab, a former Syrian prime minister, stepped down on Monday as head of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), which was formed nearly two years ago with Saudi backing to bring together political and armed opponents of Assad, Reuters wrote.
“The retreat of radicallyminded opposition figures from playing the main role will make it possible to unite this motley opposition – internal and external – on a more reasonable, realistic and constructive platform,” Russia’s Rossiya 24 State Television broadcast Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying at a news briefing.
“We will support the efforts made by Saudi Arabia in this respect.”
Russia hopes to build on the collapse of Daesh to revive a political process to end the more than six-year-old war in Syria.
Hijab is one of up to 10 HNC members who have quit the opposition umbrella group, including Riyad Naasan Agha, who told Reuters its work had now been “brought to an end.”
Agha said the HNC, which has insisted on Assad’s removal from power at the start of a political transition, had been marginalized ahead of a conference of the Syrian opposition which Saudi Arabia is due to host this week.
The “expanded” conference aims to forge a united position ahead of a new round of Un-backed peace talks toward ending the conflict that erupted in 2011.
up the vehicle in the middle of the fruit and vegetable market in Tuz Khurmatu, AFP reported.
Mayor Adel Shakur al-bayati said 24 people were killed.
A doctor at the town’s general hospital put the number of wounded at 80, some of them lightly injured.
Suicide attacks in Iraq are usually claimed by Daesh, which has suffered a string of military defeats and last week lost control of the last town the terrorists held in the country.
Tuz Khurmatu is home to a mixed Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen population.
It was the scene of deadly violence in mid-october when Iraqi forces retook it from Kurdish control in response to a Kurdish secession referendum.
Turkmen MP Niazi Maamar Oglu said an attack of Tuesday’s magnitude had not been seen in the town “for years.”
A security chief in Salaheddin Province, Mehdi Taqi, said that a curfew was imposed immediately after the bombing.
“There are still some areas west of Tuz Khurmatu that serve as hideouts for Daesh and we will soon be carrying out operations to clean them up,” Taqi added.