Syria government, Oppn adopt joint document but differences remain
12 April 2015 3:50 AM IST
“After a heated discussion between the opposition and the government, the sides managed for the first time to unanimously adopt a document of a political character,” TASS news agency quoted Vitaly Naumkin, the Russian moderator of the discussions, said on Friday.
Naumkin, who is director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said the document is called “Moscow platform”.
The document includes provisions on resolving the Syrian crisis based on the principles of the June 30, 2012, Geneva Communique and the UN Security Council resolution on the fight against terrorism.
It envisages lifting all the restrictive economic measures against the Syrian people and the assistance of the international community in returning the refugees back home, and also declares that the inter-Syrian dialogue without foreign interference is the only way to resolve the crisis
peacefully.
IS holding 50 civilians after raid on village
Jihadist fighters from the Islamic State group are holding hostage at least 50 civilians seized in a raid on a village in central Syria, a monitor said.
They were kidnapped from the village of Mabujeh in Hama province on March 31, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. News of the kidnap had been kept quiet because of ongoing negotiations for their release, but the talks have since faltered, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
Ten of those taken, including six women, are Ismailis, a minority sect that is an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The remaining 40 are Sunni Muslims, including at least 15 women. “There are fears that the women are being taken as slaves,” Abdel Rahman told AFP. He said the Ismailis were kidnapped because IS considers them “infidels,” and that the Sunnis - although from the same sect as IS fighters - were taken because IS viewed them as “loyal to the Ismailis”.
Mabujeh, east of the provincial capital Hama, has a population of Sunnis, Ismailis, and Alawites, another offshoot of Shiite Islam that is the sect of President Bashar al-Assad and his clan.
Naumkin, who is director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said the document is called “Moscow platform”.
The document includes provisions on resolving the Syrian crisis based on the principles of the June 30, 2012, Geneva Communique and the UN Security Council resolution on the fight against terrorism.
It envisages lifting all the restrictive economic measures against the Syrian people and the assistance of the international community in returning the refugees back home, and also declares that the inter-Syrian dialogue without foreign interference is the only way to resolve the crisis
peacefully.
IS holding 50 civilians after raid on village
Jihadist fighters from the Islamic State group are holding hostage at least 50 civilians seized in a raid on a village in central Syria, a monitor said.
They were kidnapped from the village of Mabujeh in Hama province on March 31, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. News of the kidnap had been kept quiet because of ongoing negotiations for their release, but the talks have since faltered, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
Ten of those taken, including six women, are Ismailis, a minority sect that is an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The remaining 40 are Sunni Muslims, including at least 15 women. “There are fears that the women are being taken as slaves,” Abdel Rahman told AFP. He said the Ismailis were kidnapped because IS considers them “infidels,” and that the Sunnis - although from the same sect as IS fighters - were taken because IS viewed them as “loyal to the Ismailis”.
Mabujeh, east of the provincial capital Hama, has a population of Sunnis, Ismailis, and Alawites, another offshoot of Shiite Islam that is the sect of President Bashar al-Assad and his clan.
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