Syria opposition agree talks framework

Powerful rebel group Ahrar al-Sham has reportedly signed up to a Syrian opposition statement after two days of negotiations in Riyadh.

World powers have intensified their push to end the almost five-year war, calling for talks to start by January even as fighting has escalated in a fighting involving the United States, Russia and European and Middle Eastern powers.

The summit this week was meant to agree a common position ahead of peace talks later this month.

Several of the opposition’s main factions attended the conference, including the Western-backed National Coalition, one of the main opposition groups.

Assad said his government was “ready today to start the negotiations with the opposition”, but suggested that he would refuse to talk to the armed groups.

The Syrian government refers to all insurgent groups as terrorists.

The UN special peace envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will take part in the so-called “Geneva process”, agreed to last month, which aims to host a meeting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Syria’s fragmented opposition by early January.

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Saudi Arabia has been a key backer of Sunni opposition blocs pushing for Assad’s ouster, such as the hard-line Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham groups that were at the two-day talks in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.

The statement calls for a new “pluralistic regime that represents all sectors” in Syria, Reuters report.

In a statement announcing its withdrawal, Ahrar al-Sham objected to the inclusion of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change (NCB), which is against armed struggle and is viewed as close to the regime and Moscow.

“They want the Syrian government to negotiate with the terrorists, something I don’t think anyone would accept in any country”, Assad added.

Supporters of President Bashar al-Assad dismiss the talks for insisting that the Syrian leader must step down.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby stressed on Tuesday that the meetings in Riyadh will affect future negotiations. It also calls for an all-inclusive, democratic civic state.

Faced with a threat from the “Islamic State”, a wave of refugees, and Russian intervention, the West has softened its stance on Assad, leaving his role in a transition ambiguous in worldwide peace talks joined by top diplomats from 20 nations in Vienna last month.

The mere participation of armed factions marked a shift, since many have long shunned politics and refused to negotiate with the government.

At an annual meeting at the Defence Ministry, he said the Free Syrian Army was engaged in “offensive actions against terrorists, alongside regular forces, in the provinces of Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Raqqa”.

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. Excluded from the group were the Kurds, who have been closely backed by the United States to fight Islamic State.