Syria opposition conference insists Al Assad must go
Crisis resolution needs consensus, Al Jubeir tells Riyadh meeting
We will provide help and support for them in all what they need” Adel Al Jubeir | Saudi Foreign Minister
Syrian opposition groups will stick to their demand President Bashar Al Assad leave power at the start of any political transition, Al Arabiya television reported yesterday, despite speculation they could soften their stance in light of the government’s strength on the battlefield.
The opposition groups were meeting in Saudi Arabia to seek a unified position ahead of UN-backed peace talks, after years in which Russian military intervention has helped the regime recapture all of Syria’s major cities.
A draft of the meeting’s final statement still included the demand that Al Assad leave office at the start of any transition, Al Arabiya television reported.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir told the opposition meeting that the only solution to the crisis was through a consensus that would achieve the demands of the Syrian people. “There is no solution to the crisis without a Syrian consensus that would achieve the demands of the Syrian people on the basis of Geneva 1 and [UN Security Council] Resolution 2254,” Al Jubeir said.
The opposition meeting came a day after a surprise visit by Al Assad to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin, who later discussed the conflict with Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz and US President Donald Trump.
In Sochi, the leaders of Iran and Turkey supported the convening of a Syrian peoples’ congress as one of the first steps to establish inclusive dialogue in the war-ravaged country, Putin said.
Speaking after meeting his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, Putin said the three leaders had instructed their diplomats, security and defence bodies to work on the composition and date of the congress.
ASyrian opposition meeting began in Riyadh yesterday in a bid to unify the group’s position ahead of peace talks backed by the United Nations in Geneva on November 28 to end the country’s six-year civil war.
Saudi Arabia backs the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) group whose leader, former Syrian prime minister Riad Hijab, resigned on Monday without explanation.
The summit comes after a surprise visit by Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to Russia a day earlier to meet President Vladimir Putin, who later discussed the conflict with US President Donald Trump and other Middle East leaders.
Al Assad has made major gains against opposition forces and Daesh terrorists with the help of Russia as well as Iran.
Saudi Arabia — which backs Syrian rebels — has long maintained that Al Assad should have no role in any transition to bring the war there to an end.
UN peace talks mediator Staffan de Mistura urged opposition figures gathered at a fivestar hotel in Riyadh to have the “hard discussions” necessary to reach a “common line”.
“A strong unified team is a creative partner in Geneva and we need that, one who can actually explore more than one way to arrive to the goals that we need to have,” he said in opening remarks.
Several opposition figures said he had insisted on Al Assad’s departure from power as a perquisite for UN-sponsored Geneva talks. Some opposition members have hinted that the new communique would drop the long standing demand by the Riyadh-based main opposition.
The summit, which Saudi Arabia called “expanded”, was opened to more than 140 opposition figures from the Turkeybased coalition and mainstream Free Syrian Army factions as well as independents including about a dozen women.
The HNC has represented the Syrian opposition at previous Geneva talks, while a number of other political opposition groups and figures backed by other countries including Russia and Egypt also exist.
“There is no solution to the crisis without a Syrian consensus that would achieve the demands of the Syrian people on the basis of Geneva 1 and (UN Security Council) resolution 2254,” said Saudi foreign minister Adel Al Jubeir. Several rounds of UN talks in Geneva between the Damascus government and the opposition have made little progress since the Syria conflict erupted in 2011.