Syria’s Assad says he won’t negotiate with armed groups

“Such attempts to once again impose a unilateral, non-inclusive format harm the progress on the issue, undermine the authority of the International Syria Support Group [ISSG], which includes all key ‘external players”, the ministry said in a statement.

The opposition and their armed rebels have repeatedly said there will be no role for al-Assad in the future of Syria.

The two-day conference in the Saudi capital city Riyadh ended with more than 100 members of Syria’s political opposition as well as rebel groups agreeing to join forces in preparing for peace talks with the government led by Syrian President Bashar Assad, Reuters reports.

A joint team of Syria’s political and armed opposition will meet the government next month for talks seeking a political solution to almost five years of conflict, the chairman of a Saudi-hosted opposition conference said on Friday. They established a “supreme council” made up of 32 opposition members and representatives of rebel factions that would later pick the 15 people who would negotiate on behalf of the opposition.

Although Western leaders recently have said Assad can stay on as part of a transition for an unspecified time, the Syrian National Coalition and other participants at the Riyadh meeting insisted he cannot be part of a transitional government.

For his part, Assad rejected negotiations with the Syrian “rebels” so long as they continue an armed struggle against the government. “For us, in Syria, everyone who holds a machinegun is a terrorist”.

Riyadh has been among those calling most strongly for Assad s departure and on Thursday Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir insisted again that he must leave.

The meeting came after two rounds of worldwide talks on the conflict in Syria in Vienna on October 30 and November 14.

“The aim of the political settlement is to create a state based on the principle of citizenship without Bashar al-Assad or figures of his regime having a place in it or any future political arrangements”, Al Jazeera quoted the statement.

The United States warned today that some problems remain to be resolved in a pact between Syrian opposition forces if UN-backed peace talks are to resume next week.

For Karim Bitar of the Institute for worldwide and Strategic Affairs, “the apparent split in Ahrar al-Sham is a first sign that things could go wrong”.

“As far as we are concerned, the regime is all but finished … and in fact it has become more factions than a regime, controlled by this colonel or that general”, said Joulani.

Assad’s fate was one of several questions left unresolved at the Vienna meeting which was attended by Russian Federation, the United States, European and Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia and Iran, which back opposing sides in Syria.

“This should be taken as an opportunity to show that the state cares about its people, ” Hillo added, “and not repeat what we have seen”.