Syrian opposition leader meets with Saudi U.N. envoy
The meeting comes after Khoja and Kerry delivered remarks at the U.S. Department of State in Washington
Khaled Khoja, the president of the Syrian National Coalition opposition group met with Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.N. Abdullah al-Mouallimi Friday in New York to discuss recent proposals and initiatives attempting to end the four-year conflict.
In the meeting, Khoja thanked Mouallimi for the kingdom’s “support of the Syrian revolution and the rights of the Syrian people to freedom and dignity,” according to the group’s website.
For his part, the Saudi envoy said the kingdom will do whatever is needed to help the Syrian people regain their rights.
The meeting comes after Khoja and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivered remarks at the U.S. Department of State in Washington on Thursday.
“The Syrian opposition continues to fight difficult odds,” Kerry said, adding “they have agreed to be part of U.N. talks that will take place over the course of the next weeks and month.”
Kerry also hoped that in the upcoming days, “people will be able to find a new path by which to create an outcome that will restore the secular, united nature of Syria and be able to prevent this extraordinary humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding before the world’s eyes.”
Khoja, meanwhile, said the U.S. has given the Syrian people an “excess of $3 billion in assistance.”
He said the Syrian opposition seeks U.S. help in establishing safe havens in areas seized by Syrian rebels.
The four-year Syrian conflict has killed 220,000 people, has internally displaced 7.6 million, and pushed 3.9 million to flee the country, according to the United Nations.
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