Assad: Syria prepared to negotiate

About 100 delegates from a spectrum of armed and political opposition groups have agreed on how they want to end the civil war in Syria.

Syria’s main political and armed opposition groups agreed at unprecedented talks on Thursday to negotiate with President Bashar al-Assad’s government, but also insisted that he step down at the start of any political transition.

Under the agreement, opposition groups have formed a “supreme committee for negotiations” based in Riyadh which will act as a reference for their negotiating team, whose members the body itself will choose.

“I welcome the Riyadh Conference’s commitment to a unified and pluralistic Syria and its rejection of terrorism in all its forms”, he said.

The Riyadh talks, which started on Wednesday, come ahead of proposed peace negotiations between the Syrian opposition and al-Assad’s government.

Brokering a peace is in the interest not only of the US and its allies, but also of Russian Federation and Iran, because it would buoy hopes of defeating a common enemy: the Islamic State jihadists who have capitalized on the war to carve out a self-proclaimed caliphate in much of the country, from which they are spreading terror overseas. “It is not in line with the Vienna talks”, Amirabdollahian said.

Al-Nusra Front ally Ahrar al-Sham attended the beginning of the Saudi talks on Wednesday but later announced it had withdrawn. So, talking about the concept is different from the practice, because so far, we’ve been seeing that some countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United States, and some western countries wanted the terrorist groups to join these negotiations.

Assad noted that he would negotiate with a genuine Syrian opposition but that armed groups would have to lay down their arms in exchange for amnesty.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, said the Syrian opposition factions had made progress in their talks. Prior arguments about whether a political transition in Syria would be possible have foundered due to debates over the timing of Assad’s ouster, how long he could stay in Syria, what title he might be given if he is allowed to participate in a subsequent general election and whether he could be given safe haven.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said 16 people were killed, and dozens wounded, adding that some of them are in critical condition. Internal opposition groups disagree, as do Assad’s key backers, Tehran and Moscow. The United States, France and Britain all called for Assad to step down after protests broke out against his rule in March 2011.

For his part, Assad called participants in the Saudi conference “terrorists” and rejected the idea of negotiating with them.

What is the price for such apparent Saudi dedication to the peaceful settlement of a conflict in which they, Qatar and Turkey have played a key role backing rebel groups battling government forces?

The United States warned Friday that some problems still needed to be resolved in the opposition pact if UN-backed peace talks are to resume next week.

Iran claimed on Thursday groups linked to militant Islamic State (IS) group were involved in talks on forming a delegation for negotiations on the future of Syria, the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars reported. 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.