Fight against terrorists separate from Syria’s political crisis — Judeh

NEW YORK — Efforts to fight the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, which has taken over parts of Syria and Iraq, has nothing to do with the political crisis in Syria, Jordan said on Thursday.

Speaking at a meeting of the Friends of Syria group in New York, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said the fact that the terrorists are in control of swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, without heeding borders, makes it a given that the offensive against IS should also be implemented across these borders.

Judeh noted that there are two separate challenges in Syria: fighting a terrorist group that threatens the region’s future and security, and reaching a political transition that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people.

The absence of a political option in Syria, especially after the collapse of negotiations in Geneva, has created fertile ground for terrorist groups to spread their “poisonous” ideologies, exploiting the people’s desperation, Judeh added.

He said reviving political negotiations has become a necessity to restore Syria’s security and stability and unite all Syrians, noting that the failure so far to pursue a political solution has transformed the protracted Syrian crisis into sectarian strife that has fed into extremism.

The Friends of Syria meeting was held on the sidelines of the 69th UN General Assembly meeting at an invitation from UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Philp Hammond.