During the “miracle meeting”, as it has been described in the Arabic press, the Saudis told Mamlouk that Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s fate hinged on a “political process” and the withdrawal of Iranian and Iranian-allied forces, including Hezbollah, from the war-torn country.
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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was reported by Interfax as saying earlier in the day that a range of Syrian opposition groups would be invited to Moscow this week and next for talks.
Syrian National Coalition President Khaled Khoja speaks during a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Friday, August 14, 2015.
The leader of the group Haytham Manna said after the talks that political change needed to happen for the fight against extremists in Syria to be effective.
But the SNC believes the Kremlin has softened its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“I think that Moscow, at its heart, accepted as positive fact the end of the Assad’s regime and is trying to save all that may be saved after the collapse”, said commentator Geydar Dzhemal, chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russian Federation.
The Jordanian government, which maintains close relations with the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon’s Special Operations Command (SOCOM), has already declared its plans to conquer its own enclave in southern Syrian, announcing an imminent invasion, to be led by a newly trained special forces brigade, on June 29, before backing off at the last moment. He had no more success with the Syrian opposition on Thursday.
“The talks are about… coordinating all those who are already fighting terrorists so that they put their main focus on fighting terrorism”, he said, “and leave for later settling scores between themselves”.
The U.S.is leading a multinational coalition in air strikes on Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria that Russian officials argue will have limited effectiveness.
“Russian interest in Syria is to keep the secular regime in Syria“.
Later this week, Lavrov is also set to confer with the opposition Syrian National Coalition, which until now has refused to visit Russian Federation.
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Moscow has been a key backer of Assad throughout the conflict that has dragged on for more than four years, leaving at least 250,000 dead and turning more than 4 million into refugees.
