Syrian rebels reject peace plan proposal by President Assad

Syrian opposition groups have rejected a new peace initiative by President Bashar al-Assad that includes a national reconciliation conference and a new government and constitution.

Assad was speaking on Sunday in a rare address to the nation, his first since June, demanded that Western countries stop funding and arming rebels and said he is ready to hold a dialogue with those “who have not betrayed Syria”.

“Syria will only exit this calamity by converting this energy into a total national mobilisation to save the country
from the clutches of a crisis which has no precedent in this region.”

“Every citizen is responsible for doing what he can to offer something no matter how simple in his eyes, for the nation is for everyone and we all must defend it with all that we have.”

“Terrorists holding the views of al-Qaeda who call themselves jihadists are the ones running the terrorist
operations here and we are fighting them. It is not impossible to destroy them if we have the courage.”

Cartoon by Carlos Latuff 2011 wikimedia commons

“He did not offer to step down, which was a precondition to start any negotiation,” Louay Safi, a member of the Syrian National Coalition opposition bloc said.

“He has shown that he is a dictator that we cannot negotiate with. I think he has no desire to relinquish power. He wants to crush the opposition and he hopes he can stay over for the next 40 years like his father did.”

Opposition leaders have repeatedly said they will accept nothing less than the president’s departure, dismissing any kind of settlement that leaves Assad in the picture.

“There’s not a single opposition leader who can go public and say ‘we will negotiate and compromise with Assad in power’, a senior commander of the Free Syrian Army said.

Assad spoke in a hall at the Opera House in central Damascus, and the audience frequently broke out in cheers and applause.