A peace plan agreed to last month by world powers meeting in Vienna set a January 1 deadline for the start of talks between Assad’s government and opposition groups. Participants also agreed on the need to safeguard state institutions while restructuring the security forces.
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Earlier, the powerful rebel group Ahrar al-Sham withdrew from the conference.
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Gathered in the Saudi capital for the first major talks among various political and armed factions, representatives agreed on a framework for negotiations sought by world powers.
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The Blues qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League last week, and will host Sunderland on Saturday. Meanwhile, Chelsea captain John Terry has described Mourinho’s exit after 30 months in charge as a “sad, sad day”.
But Abdulaziz Sager, the Saudi academic who moderated the meetings, said afterward that the representative of the group had not known about the statement and had signed the final agreement anyway – suggesting a split between the group’s political officials and its hard-line base.
“Some of the terrorist groups linked to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) are involved in the talks…these terrorist groups will not be allowed to decide Syria’s future”, said Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Fars news agency reported.
“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”, al-Jubeir said in Riyadh.
Under Thursday’s deal, opposition groups have formed a “supreme committee for negotiations” based in Riyadh that will act as a reference for their negotiating team, whose members the body will choose.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the meeting had made progress, boosting the chances that peace talks could take place.
Asked whether a planned December 18 global meeting on the Syria conflict would go ahead in New York, Kerry said: “We’ll have to see”.
Kerry, however, said he is confident those issues will be resolved. NO PART FOR ASSAD The demands that Assad and his lieutenants should play no part in the transition to democracy marked a tougher stance than several Western countries which back Assad’s opponents.
“If I think that I can help my country, especially in a crisis, and the Syrian people still support me – I don’t say the Syrian people; the majority of the Syrian people to be more precise – of course I have to stay”, Assad said.
With global pressure growing for a political solution to Syria’s war, opposition groups appear to have resigned themselves to the idea that Bashar al-Assad can not be removed by force.
Assad told EFE that Saudi Arabia, the US and some Western countries “want terrorist groups to join the negotiations table”.
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But the Islamist group had warned it “will not accept the results of this conference” unless they include “cleansing Syrian territories of the Russian-Iranian occupation and sectarian militia supporting them”.
