SNC wants more than just an Arab League seat
The Syrian National Coalition wants Iran's alleged role in Syria tackled as well.
3 min read
Fighting continues to rage in Aleppo as politicians debate ways to end the conflict [Getty]
The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) has has ramped up efforts to win support ahead of the Arab League summit scheduled to open in Egypt on 28 March.
Its attempts to take over the seat designated to Syria have involved discussions between the group's president, Khaled Khoja, and France's President Francois Hollande in Paris.
The SNC vice-president, Hisham Marwah, also met the UK's Special Representative for Syria, Gareth Bayley, in Istanbul during a meeting of the Friends of Syria Core Group. Here, the SNC delegation pressed home the need for the international community to support the Coalition in its quest for representation at both the Arab League and the UN.
They also discussed possible solutions to problems confronting Syrian refugees, such as the issuing and renewal of passports, which the Assad regime has blocked as a form of collective punishment.
Although the Arab League decided to give the SNC Syria's seat two years ago, opposition from Algeria, Lebanon and Egypt has so far prevented the SNC from taking it. The three have threatened to suspend their own membership if the SNC takes over.
"The decision to give the SNC Syria's seat in the Arab League was made in March 2013," Marwah told al-Araby al-Jadeed. "Moaz al-Khatib, who was our president at the time, attended the summit then. At the next summit, in Kuwait, Ahmad Jarba was invited. Yesterday, Haitham al-Maleh was invited to give the SNC's speech at the summit. The fact that he was invited and attended was based solely on the legal force of the earlier resolution, it was not an invitation for invitation's sake."
Marwah said administrative procedures were being finalised that would allow the decision to be actually applied.
"The SNC has carried out all the procedures that concern us, and if there are any more then we are prepared to carry them out. Therefore the seat is our right, not a request. The threats from some Arab countries that they will suspend their memberships are in line with political positions that support the Syrian regime."
The League's procedures must be completed as a matter of urgency, Marwah said. "A UN seat was rejected because the required procedures had not been finalised. These stipulate that we have to take up the Syria seat at the Arab League before we can do so at the UN."
Haitham al-Maleh is the chair of the SNC's Legal Committee. In attendance at the preparatory conference for the summit on 9 March, he asked Arab foreign ministers "to strip the criminal Assad regime of its legitimacy, and legally recognise the SNC as the sole representative of the Syrian people, give it an Arab League seat and give the Syrian interim government the right to issue official documents to Syrians".
Pointing the finger at Iran
Syria is sure to feature high on the summit agenda. In early March, the League's deputy secretary-general, Ahmed Ben Helli, raised the possibility of a unified Arab military force to fight the Islamic State group. His boss, Nabil al-Arabi, told the region's foreign ministers that such a force could have peace-keeping and humanitarian functions as well.
But a key issue for the SNC is alleged Iranian involvement in the conflict.
"The regime has been trying from the outset to portray the Syrian revolution as a terrorist uprising," said Haitham al-Maleh. "Syrians have fallen victim to the regime's terrorism and the terrorism coming from beyond the borders. Syria is currently under Iranian occupation and there are intensive efforts to form a Syrian Hizballah and change the demographics of the country."
SNC spokesman Salem Maslat said Iran had violated Syrian sovereignty.
"The Arab League must seriously consider Iran's support for the homicidal regime: the Iranians are fighting today alongside Assad's forces in Daraa, rural Aleppo, Qalamun and the Ghutat Dimashq."
This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.
Its attempts to take over the seat designated to Syria have involved discussions between the group's president, Khaled Khoja, and France's President Francois Hollande in Paris.
The SNC vice-president, Hisham Marwah, also met the UK's Special Representative for Syria, Gareth Bayley, in Istanbul during a meeting of the Friends of Syria Core Group. Here, the SNC delegation pressed home the need for the international community to support the Coalition in its quest for representation at both the Arab League and the UN.
They also discussed possible solutions to problems confronting Syrian refugees, such as the issuing and renewal of passports, which the Assad regime has blocked as a form of collective punishment.
Although the Arab League decided to give the SNC Syria's seat two years ago, opposition from Algeria, Lebanon and Egypt has so far prevented the SNC from taking it. The three have threatened to suspend their own membership if the SNC takes over.
"The decision to give the SNC Syria's seat in the Arab League was made in March 2013," Marwah told al-Araby al-Jadeed. "Moaz al-Khatib, who was our president at the time, attended the summit then. At the next summit, in Kuwait, Ahmad Jarba was invited. Yesterday, Haitham al-Maleh was invited to give the SNC's speech at the summit. The fact that he was invited and attended was based solely on the legal force of the earlier resolution, it was not an invitation for invitation's sake."
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We have to take up the Syria seat at the Arab League before we can do so at the UN - Hisham Marwah, SNC VP |
Marwah said administrative procedures were being finalised that would allow the decision to be actually applied.
"The SNC has carried out all the procedures that concern us, and if there are any more then we are prepared to carry them out. Therefore the seat is our right, not a request. The threats from some Arab countries that they will suspend their memberships are in line with political positions that support the Syrian regime."
The League's procedures must be completed as a matter of urgency, Marwah said. "A UN seat was rejected because the required procedures had not been finalised. These stipulate that we have to take up the Syria seat at the Arab League before we can do so at the UN."
Haitham al-Maleh is the chair of the SNC's Legal Committee. In attendance at the preparatory conference for the summit on 9 March, he asked Arab foreign ministers "to strip the criminal Assad regime of its legitimacy, and legally recognise the SNC as the sole representative of the Syrian people, give it an Arab League seat and give the Syrian interim government the right to issue official documents to Syrians".
Pointing the finger at Iran
Syria is sure to feature high on the summit agenda. In early March, the League's deputy secretary-general, Ahmed Ben Helli, raised the possibility of a unified Arab military force to fight the Islamic State group. His boss, Nabil al-Arabi, told the region's foreign ministers that such a force could have peace-keeping and humanitarian functions as well.
But a key issue for the SNC is alleged Iranian involvement in the conflict.
"The regime has been trying from the outset to portray the Syrian revolution as a terrorist uprising," said Haitham al-Maleh. "Syrians have fallen victim to the regime's terrorism and the terrorism coming from beyond the borders. Syria is currently under Iranian occupation and there are intensive efforts to form a Syrian Hizballah and change the demographics of the country."
SNC spokesman Salem Maslat said Iran had violated Syrian sovereignty.
"The Arab League must seriously consider Iran's support for the homicidal regime: the Iranians are fighting today alongside Assad's forces in Daraa, rural Aleppo, Qalamun and the Ghutat Dimashq."
This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.
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