Step towards a political solution in Syria

The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that outlines a peace process for Syria, and puts aside the dispute over the fate of Bashar Assad.

The resolution aims at destroying Daesh’s and other terrorist groups’ sources of income. There is thus a shift from closed-door meetings in Geneva and Vienna towards a constructive step to solve the Syrian crisis.

The new UN resolution represents the point of reference for any future political settlement and a roadmap for Syria. 

The current phase can be expected to focus on preparing the ground for a possible solution by choosing the parties to a political settlement.

Moreover, the UN resolution would logically put an end to the many fighting groups in Syria, especially those listed as terrorist groups or those that can never be part of the political solution process.

Many groups are expected to receive serious shocks, while others might go through some reformation to be able to join any coalition under the UN umbrella and easily integrate in the Syrian state.

The UN resolution also represents a message to all regional countries: that they should continue to fight all obstacles on the path of the political process in Syria.

These countries especially Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, should work harder to distance themselves from any suspicion that they support terrorist groups and organisations.

The recent visit of the Qatari foreign minister to Moscow can be seen from this perspective, even though both Russia and Qatar insist on highlighting in public the points of dispute.

The UN resolution has created the legal and legitimate framework for a political solution to Syria, which also means that only legitimate official military protagonists are accepted in Syria.

This dimension of the resolution will lead to an international recognition of the role of the Syrian army and stresses the need to have one military representative of the opposition, such as the Free Syrian Army.

Depriving most of the opposition groups of the support of their regional backers should push those groups to take concrete steps towards finding a political solution.

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