John Kerry Says Progress Made In Saudi-Led Talks With Syrian Opposition

Earlier, the USA secretary of state John Kerry, speaking at a climate conference outside Paris, had described the talks in Riyadh as “very constructive”.

The participants at the Riyadh meeting backed a “democratic mechanism through a pluralistic regime that represents all sectors of the Syrian people”, the statement said.

The group said in a statement that its withdrawal was an objection to the a major role given to the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change, a Damascus-based opposition group.

Leaders of the Syrian National Coalition said the goal of the three-day meeting is to reach a consensus on a document which would outline a set of principles to form the basis of a joint negotiating position in talks with the Assad government in January. But the opposition groups insisted that “Bashar al-Assad and his aides quit power with the start of the transition period” set out last month in Vienna by world powers.

The participants also agreed that the Syrian crisis has to be settled via political solutions, and vowed to rebuild security and military authorities.

The U.N.’s special peace envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will also participate in the Geneva talks, which are part of a wider diplomatic effort aimed at ending the conflict.

If Ahrar al-Sham remained outside the deal, its lack would make such a ceasefire considerably more hard to execute.

Mr Kerry said members of the new International Syrian Support Group – which includes the Arab League, the European Union, the United Nations, and 17 countries – were “working toward the potential of a meeting in New York” on 18 December, but cautioned that it was “not locked in yet”.

“While this important step forward brings us closer to starting negotiations between the Syrian parties, we recognize the hard work ahead”, he added.

Allied with the Qaida-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham said it “rejects the outcomes” of the meeting which “did not affirm the identity of our Muslim people” in Syria.

Several opposition sources after said Ahrar al-Sham returned to the convention, but the group didn’t affirm the move.

Saudi Arabia has been a key backer of Sunni opposition blocs pushing for Mr Al Assad’s removal throughout the almost five-year-old Syria conflict.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir wished the group success at the start of their talks before leaving the closed-door session, according to a statement released to the media. Iran has openly criticized the decision by Saudi Arabia to hold the talks, saying they were created to harm the Vienna process.

On Wednesday, Ahrar al-Sham had said they came to Riyadh “to stress that we want to liberate all the territories under Russian and Iranian hegemony, to oust the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to preserve the sovereignty of our country”.