Saudi Arabia Invited Terrorists: Syrian Envoy Slams Riyadh Conference

The committee is heavily stacked with rebels groups, with 11 representatives, while the largely western-backed exiled opposition has nine members, Syria’s internal opposition closer to Assad six members, and eight independents.

Assad said his military position had improved in the nearly five-year war in the fight against insurgent groups, but acknowledged that it was taking its toll.

But in an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE, Assad said he would not hold political talks with any armed groups, and accused Washington and its ally Saudi Arabia of wanting “terrorist groups” to join negotiations.

The disparate groups agreed on a common framework following two days of talks in Riyadh.

Syrian President Bashar Assad says his government will not negotiate with armed groups, calling them “terrorists”.

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

“We appreciate that this extremely diverse group of Syrians put aside differences in the interest of building a new Syria”, he said in a Thursday statement.

“This conference was an important step ahead of the next ISSG meeting next week”.

Also last week, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian criticized Saudi Arabia and Jordan for trying to hold sideline meetings on Syria, warning that such moves could harm the efforts made by around 20 nations under the Vienna declaration to resolve the Syrian crisis.

Moscow said Friday it supported opposition forces as well as Assad’s troops in fighting ISIS forces in Syria, Reuters reported.

The role of Assad in a transitional or future government has been a major sticking point in worldwide talks to end the conflict, with the Assad regime’s backers, Russian Federation and Iran, insisting the Syrian people have a say in the president’s role.

But the opposition demand for Assad to go “is of course unacceptable to the regime”, said Pierret.

Kerry, however, said he is confident those issues will be resolved.

More than 100 representatives from Syria’s political and armed factions attended the meeting in Riyadh.

“Intense Saudi pressure was able to overcome initial misapprehensions but it remains to be seen whether the fears and concerns will not re-emerge rapidly”, Bitar told AFP.

The provincial governor and a monitoring group said a auto bomb killed 16 people and wounded dozens, but IS said the attack was a vehicle bombing and a suicide bomber blowing himself up.