Syria opposition summit to be held in October

CAIRO – 6 August 2017: High Negotiation Committee (HNC) will arrange a summit for Syrian Opposition parties next October aiming to reach a political vision and specify united delegation to engage in talks with Damascus for implementing UNSC Resolution 2254.

The upcoming Summit aims to approve the opposition’s new vision, strategy and structure, and unify its branches. It will include parties that attended previously in the Cairo-based summit in addition to opposition figures and representatives from the armed factions.

The summit aims to reach agreements including, engaging in talks with one unified opposition, implementing Resolution 2254 and reaching a smooth and correct political transition that realizes the hopes of the Syrian people in having a unified Syria.
This announcement came after Egypt, in cooperation with Russia, managed to reach an agreement to create a "de-escalation" zone in the northern Homs countryside.

On July 23, first cease-fire was announced in Ghouta region in Damascus, while the second de-escalation deal was announced to take place at the zone in the northern Homs countryside on August 3.

The Syrian political situation has been deteriorating since the protests that emerged with the Arab Spring revolutions in 2011, when the opposition created the ‘Free Syrian Army’ to face Assad’s forces. The situation worsened when the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group interfered in the country in 2014.

About 470,000 people had been killed since the beginning of the war as of February 2016, according to latest data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Some 1.6 million Syrians have been domestically displaced, while the number of refugees reached 4.8 million people, the data added.