MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) – The idea of gathering the Syrian opposition for consultations in Moscow is “pure theory,” and impossible to implement in practice, Syrian National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar told RIA Novosti Wednesday.
A coordinator for the Council of Syrian Tribes, Abbas Habib, said earlier in the day that preliminary consultations may take place in Moscow soon, followed by a large-scale reconciliation conference in Damascus.
“It is a theory that cannot be put into practice,” Haidar said when asked to comment on the report.
“The Syrian government has already initiated a political project called ‘Internal Reconciliation and Internal Dialogue,’ the Syrian president suggested it in his last speech,” the minister said.
“Additionally, all international efforts are directed toward conducting the first and second rounds of the pre-planned Geneva 2 international conference. There was also talk of the Geneva 3 conference," Haidar said.
The establishment of the Council of Syrian Tribes in early July was intended to consolidate different tribal efforts to put an end to the Syrian conflict and restore the peace to the country.
Over 170,000 people have been killed in the Syrian armed conflict to date, which began in March 2011. Government troops are fighting militias from different armed groups. The most active and notorious organization is the Islamic State (IS), which has declared an Islamic Caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
