President of the Syrian Coalition, Abdurrahman Mustafa, met with members of the German Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and discussed with them the Assad regime’s ongoing war crimes against civilians, the latest of which are the bombing campaign in Idlib as well as the latest developments in the political process.

President Mustafa stressed the importance of providing protection to civilians in the liberated areas as he called for preserving the ceasefire agreement in Idlib province in order to avoid a major humanitarian crisis and a new wave of refugees to neighboring countries.

Security in Idlib province “is important for us,” President Mustafa said, adding that “Idlib alone is home to around four million civilians, half of whom were forcibly displaced from other parts of Syria.” He noted that the Assad regime continues with its “criminal behavior against Syrian civilians,” noting that this behavior “carries a message to the international community that the regime still insists on pursuing a bloody military solution.”

President Mustafa pointed out that the Coalition supports the efforts of the UN envoy Geir Pedersen to fully and effectively implement UN Security Council Resolution 2254, noting that the Constitutional Committee is the only gateway to the political process.

Moreover, President Mustafa explained that the Syrian Coalition is in the process of moving its headquarters into the Syrian territory next April. He said that the Coalition has already developed a plan to restructure the Syrian Interim Government and activate its role in order to enable it to work more broadly in the framework of governance and civil administration in all areas of basic services.

President Mustafa thanked Germany for hosting the Syrian refugees and for its remarkable efforts to file lawsuits against Assad regime officials involved in war crimes in Syria as key to holding them accountable and to preventing impunity.

For their part, the German officials stressed that their country will not contribute neither economically nor politically to the reconstruction program in Syria or engage in the issue of the return of refugees unless a real political solution is achieved in Syria. They renewed Germany’s support for the demands of the Syrian people for freedom and democracy. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)