Rome will host a meeting of the international anti-Da’esh coalition in mid-January 2016. The meeting was announced by Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni at a press conference with the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura.
The international coalition will discuss the anti-Da’esh strategy “without automatically harking back to the idea that thousands and thousands of ‘boots on the ground’ can resolve crises”, noted Gentiloni. Speaking of American President Barack Obama’s decision not to send ground troops to Syria, the Foreign Minister explained that “America will be more present, but without the illusion that interventionism is in itself the solution”.
“We have high expectations of the meetings with the forces opposing the Syrian regime” taking place tomorrow and the day after in Riyadh, declared Minister Gentiloni, who underscored that Saudi Arabia’s role “is very important at this time. We expect these meetings to pave the way for negotiations between the opposition groups and the regime. This is linked with the ceasefire, which in itself is an extraordinary goal”.
