From BBC.com:In 2014, Muallem headed the government’s delegation at UN-sponsored peace talks in Switzerland that were meant to discuss a political transition plan for Syria.Sitting across the room from leading opposition figures, he said in an opening address: “The media laud these people, these terrorists, by claiming they are moderates. But they know full well that they are extremists and terrorists.”
Then-UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accused him of using inflammatory language, to which Muallem responded: “You live in New York. I live in Syria. I have the right to give the Syrian version here in this forum.”
The talks eventually collapsed and there has been little progress on a peaceful resolution to the conflict since then.
Rebel and jihadist groups once controlled large parts of the country, but the Syrian army has retaken most of the territory over the past five years with the help of Russian air power and Iran-backed militiamen.
Now, the last remaining opposition stronghold is the north-western province of Idlib, which the government has vowed to “liberate” despite the presence of three million civilians, including one million children.
From BBC.com:In 2014, Muallem headed the government’s delegation at UN-sponsored peace talks in Switzerland that were meant to discuss a political transition plan for Syria.Sitting across the room from leading opposition figures, he said in an opening address: “The media laud these people, these terrorists, by claiming they are moderates. But they know full well that they are extremists and terrorists.”
Then-UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accused him of using inflammatory language, to which Muallem responded: “You live in New York. I live in Syria. I have the right to give the Syrian version here in this forum.”
The talks eventually collapsed and there has been little progress on a peaceful resolution to the conflict since then.
Rebel and jihadist groups once controlled large parts of the country, but the Syrian army has retaken most of the territory over the past five years with the help of Russian air power and Iran-backed militiamen.
Now, the last remaining opposition stronghold is the north-western province of Idlib, which the government has vowed to “liberate” despite the presence of three million civilians, including one million children.