Future of Syrians lies in their hands: Top EU diplomat

By Omer Aydin

STRASBOURG (AA) – It is Syrians’ right to decide their own future, the EU foreign policy chief said on Tuesday.

Speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Federica Mogherini said: “The future of Syria lies and has to lie only in the hands of the Syrian people, and no one else.”

She added that the main point was that the only “sustainable, pragmatic and possible solution” to the war in Syria is a political one.

“We have no doubt about this: there is no military solution to the war; the only way to end this conflict is through the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, between the Syrian parties, under the leadership of the United Nations,” she said.

Mogherini added that even when Syria fades from the headlines, the world must remember that the war is not over yet.

“Next week, all the relevant international and regional players will gather for the second Brussels conference on supporting the future of Syria and the region,” she said, adding that there will be over 80 delegations attending.

At the session, some MEPs criticized the U.S., U.K. and French airstrikes on alleged Assad regime chemical weapons facilities, warning the attacks would escalate tension in the region.

The strikes were in retaliation for an alleged Assad regime chemical weapons attack on the Syrian city of Douma, which killed 78 civilians and injured hundreds of others.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, according to the UN.