Following talks in Saudi Arabia, they’ll be negotiating with the Syrian government next month – but insist President Bashar al-Assad must leave before a transition starts.
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Saudi Arabia hosted a three-day meeting of “moderate” Syrian opposition figures in hopes of forging a unified stance on how to end the ongoing conflict in war-torn Syria.
The interview with Spanish news agency EFE and released on state news agency SANA came a day after more than 100 representatives from the fragmented political and armed resistance consented in Riyadh to work jointly to get ready for peace talks with Assad in Syria.
Asked whether he’d be willing to join discussions called for by world powers by January 1, he said: “They desire the Syrian government to negotiate with terrorists, something I don’t believe anyone would accept in any state”.
The powerful Ahrar al-Sham group pulled out of the opposition conference in Saudi Arabia on Thursday in protest over the role given to groups it said are close to the Syrian government, signaling continued divisions among rival factions ahead of the proposed peace talks.
“We can not agree with an attempt made by the group that gathered in Riyadh to monopolise the right to speak on behalf of the entire Syrian opposition”, said the foreign ministry in Moscow, which supports Assad.
“In principle we are ready for dialogue… and in order for the dialogue to be successful you have deal with real national opposition that has a popular base in Syria”, Assad said.
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Moscow also said the talks did not include members of the so-called “patriotic Syrian opposition” seen as friendly towards Assad.
