Groups linked to ISIS attending Riyadh talks on Syria’s future – Iran

They were Assad’s first comments since Syrian opposition groups including armed rebels met in Saudi Arabia this week to draw up a common platform for negotiations.

The opposition rebels have chosen a new secretary-general, a new spokesperson and a 23-member supreme negotiation commission.

The meeting comes amid global pressure on the opposition to unify their ranks and negotiate with Assad’s government to reach a political solution to the country’s conflict, now in its fifth year. “So we made progress but we’ve some tough problems to get over”.

The Riyadh group agreed on an inclusive and democratic Syria with no future for Assad, who they said would have to step down in any transition period.

But Russia, the other big player in the new “International Syrian Support Group”, has warned the meeting can not go ahead before the results of the Saudi dialogue are known.

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

The United States swiftly welcomed the Riyadh accord.

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian President Bashar Assad, speaks during an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE, in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Dec. 11, 2015.

Saudi Arabia, a staunch backer of Syria’s opposition, on Thursday told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down or face forcible removal from power. National Coalition chief Khaled Khoja said Wednesday he expected the meeting to agree on “forming a negotiating team and on the principles of negotiations” with Assad’s regime.

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.

Moscow’s intervention has not swung the war decisively Assad’s way and several Western-backed rebel groups, some of whom were represented in Riyadh, have been emboldened by the increased flow of foreign-supplied anti-tank missiles which have helped stem parts of the army’s counter-offensive.

Saudi Arabia reportedly invited some 65 participants, including 15 from armed groups.

The United Nations, in consultation with other countries, is responsible for identifying opposition groups or terrorists in Syria, Amir-Abdollahian said.

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).

Assad “has two choices: leave through negotiations, which would be fastest and easiest, or he will be removed by force, because the Syrian people refuse for this man to be allowed to stay in power”, Jubeir said. The United States will hold further discussions on Syria with Russian Federation and the United Nations in Geneva today.