Kerry: ‘Kinks’ Remain in Syrian Opposition Framework

US Secretary of State John Kerry said there were “some tough issues to get over” even though there was progress in the talks.

Kerry spoke of “working toward the potential of a meeting in NY”, while adding that it was “not locked in yet”.

“Today will be for choosing a delegation of 42 people to select the negotiators”, said a Gulf-based participant. “I think everybody is moving in the direction that they want to rapidly get to a political process”.

Not all of Syria s armed factions attended the talks, with jihadists such as the Islamic State group and the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front excluded.

“Unfortunately, we can not call dissidents those who participated in the fake meeting of the opposition in Riyadh since they sat at the same table with the terrorists whose names are on the list of the terrorist groups and are wanted by the Interpol”, Taei told FNA on Sunday.

Separately, a listing of names the factions drew up in Riyadh showed armed rebel groups would compose the largest single group in a combined Syrian opposition body that would oversee talks with Assad’s government.

Riyadh is hosting negotiations between Syria’s diverse array of rebel and opposition groups to decide who will negotiate with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The stakes were high for the Riyadh meeting, during which the disparate and often competing opposition factions were held to a tight deadline to agree on the outlines of a political solution to the crisis and choose representatives for the talks.

The leaders of the GCC – comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – said that they “support a political settlement… that guarantees the territorial integrity and independence of Syria” as their two-day meeting came to an end on Thursday.

Ahrar al-Sham is a Saudi-backed ultraconservative group that operates mainly in northern Syria.

The Syrian conflict, which began in 2011, has killed an estimated 250,000 people and displaced 12 million more, according to United Nations figures.

It has seen the rise of so-called moderate rebels but also jihadists including IS, which holds swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq and has set up a self-declared caliphate.

“I never thought about leaving Syria under any circumstances, in any situation, something I never put in my mind”, he said when asked if he would step down as part of a political solution. Russian Federation is a key backer of Mr. Assad and has struck rebel targets as well as IS positions.

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.