They add that Assad must leave before the start of the transition process. It also said it would preserve state institutions.
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Ahrar al-Sham said it withdrew Thursday to protest the role given to groups it feels are too close to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
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Several Western diplomats were at the tightly secured luxury hotel where the talks took place without taking part in the sessions, and sources there said a Russian diplomat was at the hotel when unofficial discussions began on Tuesday. Internal opposition groups disagree, as do Assad’s key backers, Tehran and Moscow.
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While he described the package as a “good win”, Obama acknowledged there are “some things in there that I don’t like”. He did, however, release a statement in opposition to the bill, calling it an example of a “broken Washington”.
The Observatory said about 750 people had left, including fighters from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and fighters linked with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Syria’s civil war has stretched on for five years now.
Delegates from Islamist insurgent groups, exiled political opposition figures and Damascus-based activists are aiming to bridge differences which have plagued previous attempts to unite Assad’s opponents around a common strategy.
The conference agreed that Assad and his lieutenants should play no part in a transition to democracy. “No one expected them to do that in the past 24 hours”, he said.
He was speaking from the United Arab Emirates after being briefed on Thursday morning’s talks.
They agreed on a framework for negotiations with the officials representing the Assad regime on the basis of the Geneva statement of June 2012 and the worldwide resolutions regarding resumption of talks.
At the climate talks in Paris, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the Riyadh summit had been “very constructive”. There is a possibility that Syrian peace talks will be held in NY on December 18 but the date is “not locked” yet, Kerry said.
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. The US has also called on Mr. Assad to step down, but has appeared to soften its stance on when that has to happen.
“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.
Assad told Spanish news agency EFE that Saudi Arabia, the US and some Western countries “want terrorist groups to join the negotiations table”.
The meeting came after two rounds of global talks on the conflict in Syria in Vienna on October 30 and November 14.
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While the oil-rich kingdom is a financial and diplomatic backer of the opposition, the moderate opposition factions have been weakened by divisions, allowing jihadist rebels such as Islamic State to establish a foothold in the country.
