Backers of terrorists playing double game on Syria: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Naseer al-Omari, a writer and political commentator from New York, on an American-Russian demand for an agreement on the makeup of a Syrian opposition delegation in the international talks on the crisis in the Arab state.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: The question of drawing a line between the Syrian opposition groups and terrorists is the demand that the Syrian government as well as other players have made in the past when it comes to resolving Syrian crisis; why now is this issue being addressed?

Omari: Because this is a very very important issue. If the Syrian government wants to sit down with the Syrian opposition, various groups have to declare that they are willing and ready to engage in political negotiations to settle the conflict.

The problem with terrorist groups is that they have announced that they are not interested in any political process. They believe in establishing a caliphate or Islamic government. They are not even asking to be represented. That is a serious problem.

And I think the debate is still hovering around al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham and all these groups that have not even asked to sit to the Assad government.

Press TV: Speaking of these groups like Ahrar al-Sham for example, there are certain governments that don’t consider them terrorist organizations. Isn’t that a fundamental problem that should have been addressed a long time ago?  

Omari: It is and the problem is these governments, the Saudi government in particular, are playing a double game. They say that they are against terrorism but at the same time they are supporting all kinds of groups and giving them weapons.

So it has reached a point now where everybody knows that ISIS and al-Nusra, all these groups, will not be fighting for these years without the support of the Turks and Saudis and Qataris. Everybody is playing this game and in the meanwhile there is no real progress at the negotiation table.

Press TV: The negotiations are just around the corner and we’ve just come up with this question of who is a terrorist and who is not. This is obviously not going to get resolved in the coming days. So, what is Syria supposed to do?

Omari: I’m not sure that the background work has been, you know, laid for any serious negotiation. You have also issues between Russia and the United States that have nothing to do with Syria.

The Ukrainian situation, the sanctions on Russia; all of these things are supposed to be discussed in this upcoming meeting between the Russians and the Americans. There is a lot riding on the Syrian issue, but most of these issues are really about sanctions about oil prices sliding, so we are not to see any true and real breakthrough in the Syrian political negotiations unfortunately.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk