Iran, EU Discuss Syria
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini in a meeting in Brussels explored avenues for settling the crisis in Syria, the EU External Action Service said in a press release on Tuesday.
According to the press release, Mr. Amir Abdollahian, who led an Iranian delegation, met Mogherini to confer “on the situation in Syria in light of the mandate given by the (European) Council to explore ways in which the EU could promote a more constructive regional framework.”
“The three-hour discussions were followed by senior official talks which focused on the need to advance in parallel the fight against Da'esh (the ISIL terrorist group) and a political process that would bring the conflict inside Syria to an end, starting with a de-escalation of the current tensions,” the press release added.
“There was an agreement that only a political track, that involves all parties, can ensure a stable solution to the conflict in Syria and to this end a joint effort of all the relevant regional and international actors is required,” it went on to say.
“The engagement to actively support the process led by the UN Special Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, and the need to continue to work together on this path were reiterated,” the statement noted.
“The dire humanitarian situation was also highlighted, and in particular the need to facilitate humanitarian access and respect of international humanitarian law, and to explore ways to jointly work in this regard.”
Syria has been entangled in civil war since March 2011. The ISIL Takfiri group now controls parts of the Arab country, mostly in the east.
In the past four and half years, more than 240,000 people have died in Syria -overwhelmingly civilians- and around 4 million Syrian people are now refugees in other countries. Around 8 million others have been displaced internally.