The United Nations in a statement said the factions are “ready to negotiate with representatives of the Syrian regime”, though with the stipulation that Assad would be excluded from a shift to any potential new government, the AFP said.
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Saudi Arabia has been a key backer of Sunni opposition blocs pushing for Assad’s ouster throughout the almost five year old Syria conflict.
Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya says Syrian and Russian forces are carrying out a “military escalation” against non-Islamist opposition strongholds in the north – which the Al-Alam Arabic satellite channel of Syria’s Iranian ally prefers to call “liberation”.
The Syrian National Coalition, the main political umbrella organisation representing the opposition, sat opposite the regime’s foreign minister, Walid al-Muallem, and other spokesman for 10 days in January 2014 but reached stalemate.
The group’s communiqué also called on the regime to release opposition prisoners, commute death sentences against some and end the bombardment of rebel-held areas, among other measures.
Earlier, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said: “Al-Assad will leave with no doubt, either by a political solution, which can be easier for all, or he will leave through a military solution because he is no longer wanted by the Syrian people”. Assad has always labeled all his opponents “terrorists”, and it is far from clear whether his government will agree to talk to a group that includes members of the armed insurgency.
Ahrar al-Sham had agreed to attend the Riyadh talks despite the “lack of representation of jihadist factions at a level matching their… role” on the ground in Syria.
“We appreciate that this extremely diverse group of Syrians put aside differences in the interest of building a new Syria”, the secretary of state said in a statement. The group said the militants operating inside Syria were under-represented at the meeting.
The president of the Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition (SNC), Khaled al-Khoja, is also on the list, as well as former heads Ahmed Jarba and Moaz Alkhatib, who is included as an independent.
Although they all say Assad ultimately must go, they have been less specific about the timing of any departures, indicating that they could accept his staying on in an interim period.
“We have to start with stopping the flow, and at the same time fighting terrorism from within Syria by the Syrian army and by whoever wants to support the Syrian army”, Assad said.
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Shiite Iran, which sees the Syrian strongman as the cornerstone of any future settlement, has propped up Mr. Assad with billions of dollars and thousands of its own fighters as well as proxy militias from such neighboring countries as Lebanon and Iraq.
