Syria opposition groups ready for talks with regime

Syria’s political and armed opposition agreed to meet with the Assad regime for talks seeking a political solution to the conflict next month announced the chair of the opposition groups conference in Saudi Arabia.

 The meeting excluded Islamic State (IS), al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and the main Kurdish force in Syria.

Following talks in Saudi Arabia, they’ll be negotiating with the Syrian government next month – but insist President Bashar al-Assad must leave before a transition starts.

During the closed-door talks between the various “rebels” and exiles, Ahrar al-Sham had reportedly objected strenuously to language in the agreement calling for “democracy” in Syria. Before anyone gets carried away, Mr Al Assad declared in reaction to the meeting that he would not negotiate with “terrorists” and that “everyone who holds a machine-gun is a terrorist”.

Saudi Arabia is the enemy number one of Mr. Assad and they will not relent along with the United States.

Speaking at a news conference earlier Thursday, Al-Jubeir said Assad has two choices – either step down through negotiations or be forcibly removed from power.

Largely driven by the outrages perpetrated by the so-called Islamic State, the Syrian settlement process seems to have more or less passed its first major hurdle with the declaration on Thursday night from Syrian opposition and rebel groups pledging willingness to enter talks with Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

If the Kremlin can hold onto this strategic asset and maintain its influence in a post-Assad era, Mr Putin will find it much easier to join the more focussed and internationally agreed fight against so called Islamic State. The problem is that- this time around- their terror tactics aren’t working, in fact, their jihadi militias are getting beaten quite badly the by the Russian-led coalition, which is why they’ve moved on to Plan B, a political strategy for uniting the anti-Assad opposition to improve their chances for success in the next round of negotiations in Vienna. And what hope is there for January’s talks with the Syrian government?

The demands that Assad and his lieutenants should play no part in a political transition marked a tougher stance than that of several Western countries which back Assad’s opponents.

Its association with Al Qaeda, naturally, makes Ahrar Al Sham unacceptable to the USA and very unpalatable to Saudi Arabia and the other key opposition sponsors, Turkey and Qatar.

For its part, Russian Federation has insisted worldwide powers come up with a list of terrorist organizations – which would from Moscow’s view include groups such as Ahrar al-Sham – and legitimate opposition to negotiate with the Syrian regime.

Monzer Akbik, a member of the National Coalition opposition bloc, said the meeting agreed to set up a 25-strong leadership group, including six coalition members, six from rebel factions, five from the NCB and eight independent figures.

US Secretary of State John Kerry praised the “positive outcome” of the Riyadh conference, which he claimed had brought together an “extremely diverse group of Syrians”.