Russia and UAE Call for International Meeting to Ensure Syria’s Integrity
Israeli occupation forces advance through the buffer zone fences into Syria, on December 10, 2024. X/ @DB_WTI
December 12, 2024 Hour: 2:21 pm
Lavrov and Zayed emphasized the importance of ensuring the continuity of institutions during the transition period.
On Thursday, Russia and the United Arab Emirates called for the urgent convening of an international meeting to ensure Syria’s territorial integrity following the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.
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This was the outcome of a phone conversation on Thursday between the Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed.
“They advocated for holding an international meeting as soon as possible to promptly initiate an inclusive national dialogue with the participation of all political, ethnic, and religious forces in Syria,” the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.
The diplomates emphasized the importance of ensuring the “continuity” of institutions during the “transition period” to safeguard the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity of the Syrian Arab Republic.
This initiative is expected to be spearheaded by the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, as agreed at the meeting held on December 7 in Doha with the foreign ministers of the guarantor countries of the Astana Format: Russia, Iran, and Turkey.
Russia and the United Arab Emirates were two of the main allies of Assad’s regime, which granted him asylum on December 8 in the UAE.
Since then, Moscow has adopted a cautious stance and has refrained from labeling as terrorists the groups involved in Assad’s overthrow. This approach aims to reach an agreement with the new authorities on the future of Russian military bases in the Arab country.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
