Safadi discusses Syria political solution with Russian counterpart

AMMAN — Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi on Friday held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that focused on efforts seeking a political solution to the Syrian crisis, the developments in the Palestinian cause as well as the bilateral ties between the two countries.

Safadi and Lavrov agreed to continue coordination to resolve the Syrian crisis through a political solution that safeguards Syria’s unity and is accepted by all Syrians based on UN Security Council Resolution 2254, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The two ministers underscored the importance of the Jordanian-Russian cooperation, which “has proved successful in reaching reconciliation agreements that limited losses in south Syria”.

The talks, which took place during a meeting in Rome, also went over the Rukban refugee camp issue, with Safadi stressing the need for securing the voluntary return of refugees to the towns from which they were displaced after liberation from Daesh.

Jordan, the US and Russia were taking part in trilateral talks aiming at resolving Rukban’s crisis. The Kingdom’s stance on the issue stresses that the inhabitants of the Rukban refugee camp, located in southern Syria near the Jordanian border, are Syrians on Syrian soil and thus the camp’s crisis must be addressed within a joint Syria-UN context, and that the optimal solution is the return of the refugees to their hometowns. 

Jordan declared the northern and northeastern border areas a closed military zone in June, 2016, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack that targeted a military post serving refugees near the border, killing seven security officers and injuring 13 others.

The Kingdom has allowed the delivery of humanitarian aid to the camp through its territory when the area was inaccessible from the Syrian side due to security reasons, but stresses that aid must now be delivered from inside Syria in light recent developments that allow this possibility.

Safadi’s discussions with Lavrov also underscored the necessity of boosting efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of a two-state solution. 

Also on Friday, Safadi met with UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura on the sidelines of the Mediterranean Dialogues forum.

The foreign minister and de Mistura reviewed the developments in the efforts exerted to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis, which, they stressed, is necessary for the region’s stability and a key requirement for defeating terrorism.

Safadi stressed the need for intensifying efforts to maintain stability in Syria and ensuring the provision of aid, noting that defeating terror forces requires resolving the Syrian crisis and ending the repression and deprivation of Syrians, which terrorists exploit to promote their “misguided ideology”. 

Safadi indicated the importance of supporting the Geneva process as the platform to produce the political solution that would safeguard Syria’s territorial and social unity. 

De Mistura praised the cooperation between the Kingdom and the UN to resolve the Syrian crisis, valuing Jordan’s humanitarian role towards Syrian refugees.