Syrian opposition meet in Saudi Arabia to shut ranks

It said the NCB was considered to be a pro-Assad organization, not opposition.

The meeting in Riyadh has brought together publicly for the first time more than 100 Syrian political figures.

A powerful Syrian insurgent faction had pulled out of the Riyadh conference in protest at the role given to groups it said are close to the Syrian government. Mr. Assad’s opponents range from pacifists committed to nonviolence to Islamist groups like Ahrar al-Sham, which cooperates on the battlefield with al Qaeda’sSyria branch, the Nusra Front.

The meeting came amid escalating conflict in Syria and accelerated diplomacy to find a political solution to the war.

Ahrar al-Sham reportedly objected to the amount of inclusion of Assad government figures in a proposed unity government, saying they were too willing to make concessions to the government.

But the opposition groups, while agreeing a joint negotiating team for future ceasefire talks, also demanded Assad step down immediately, a potential sticking point. An end to the conflict could be reached through negotiations with the regime, a transition period, democratic elections and a new constitution that recognizes Kurdish rights, the new body said. Participants also committed to a political system which “represents all sectors of the Syrian people”, and would not discriminate on religious or sectarian grounds – in a gesture towards minority Alawite, Christian and Kurdish populations.

Assad said on Friday that the United States and Saudi Arabia wanted “terrorist groups” to join peace talks proposed by world powers, and that nobody in Syria would accept such talks, in an interview transcript published by state media. 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.

“This conference was an important step ahead of the next ISSG meeting next week”.

That latter remark was a veiled reference to the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State that has carried out airstrikes against the jihadists in Syria for more than a year without any military coordination with Damascus.

US State Department spokesman John Kirby said, however, that Ahrar al-Sham “were at the conference today” and that the US considered them one of the 116 participants that formed a consensus.

Iran had a negative influence on “most regional issues”, he said adding he had met his Iranian counterpart for only “a few minutes” at the sidelines of a Vienna meeting last month to discuss ways to end the war in Syria.

Four buses arrived in Idlib overnight out of a total of around 15 that left Homs, and the rest arrived during the day on Thursday, Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said. Mr. Assad’s main backers, Iran and Russian Federation, are calling for a broad and comprehensive list of groups to be excluded from the talks, including some of the largest factions fighting the regime.