Former UN official: Solution in Syria linked to Moscow-Washington agreement

Ramzi Ezzedine, a former deputy UN envoy to Syria, said the “step-by-step” initiative aims to reach a lasting political solution to the Syrian crisis.

Ezzedine said the UN envoy to Syria,Geir Pederson, has put forward a “step-by-step” initiative that will improve the situation of Syrians by sending more aid, in exchange for actions taken by the Assad regime on freedoms and other domains.

He added that it is important to have consensus between the Russian and American sides in order to make progress in the political process, noting that each of the parties that plays a major role in the Syrian issue wants a solution in its own way.

Ezzedine called on the Syrian opposition and the Assad regime to reconsider many of the positions taken, in light of the regional and international changes reflected in the Syrian issue.

Pederson said in an interview with the Newspaper “Middle East” that he received “strong support” from the UN Security Council to move forward with his new approach “step by step” between the parties concerned, to “identify gradual, reciprocal, realistic, precisely defined and verifiable steps to be applied in parallel between the parties involved in the Syrian crisis to the implementation of UN Resolution 2254