US sees problems with Syrian opposition pact

Opposition groups agree to negotiate with regime but want Al Assad to step down

The US warned yesterday that some problems remain to be resolved in a pact between Syrian opposition forces if UN-backed peace talks are to resume this week.

Secretary of State John Kerry said he would talk with his Saudi counterpart about how to fix problems in the deal reached Thursday by Syrian rebel groups meeting in Riyadh.

“There are some questions and obviously a couple of, in our judgement, kinks to be worked out,” he said.

“And I’m confident that they’re going to be worked out so I’ll be having conversations with them during the course of today.”

‘We’ll have to see’

Asked whether a planned December 18 international meeting on the Syria conflict would go ahead in New York, Kerry said: “We’ll have to see. I have to hear what the answers are to some questions that we have today, then we’ll let you know.”

Kerry said that he had spoken to Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince and Defence Minister Mohammad Bin Salman and Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir since the deal was signed. Syria’s main opposition groups agreed at unprecedented talks Thursday to negotiate with President Bashar Al Assad’s regime but insisted he must step down at the start of a political transition.

“The participants are ready to negotiate with representatives of the Syrian regime based on the Geneva 1 communique ... within a specific timeframe that would be agreed on with the United Nations,” said a statement issued after two days of talks between a range of armed and political opposition groups in Riyadh.

Transition

But 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 diplomats from 17 countries.

Speaking to reporters, Kerry did not outline what his reservations with the deal were, but it is important to Washington that Russia is comfortable with the agreement.

Moscow is a close ally of President Bashar Al Assad but also, with Washington, a key sponsor of the UN-led effort to negotiate a ceasefire in Syria’s civil war.

Russia had said it would confirm whether this week’s planned meeting of the 17 nations of the International Syrian Support Group could go ahead after the rebel talks.