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Opposition figures who were against political concessions were not invited to Riyadh
Aside from unifying Syria’s myriad of opposition groups ahead of UN mandated talks in Geneva on November 28, the gathering taking place this week in Riyadh aims to elect new representatives to replace ten senior figures who resigned ahead of the conference — including the High Negotiations Committee head Riad Hijab.
According to sources in the opposition, many of these names were not invited to Riyadh, ostensibly because they were against political concessions.
Pressure to rescind the longheld opposition demand for Al Assad’s departure came amid massive pressure from Russia and Iran.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quick to comment on the development, saying that Hijab’s resignation would make it possible to unite the Syrian Opposition on a “realistic and constructive” basis.
In addition to Hijab, the list of names absent from Riyadh includes Khaled Al Khoja and Ahmad Al Jarba, two former presidents of the National Coalition, Nawaf Al Fares, former ambassador to Iraq, Salem Al Muslet, Abdul Hakim Bashar, Riad Naasan Agha, General Abdul Aziz Al Shallah, a former commander of military police.
Unlike the rest, Al Khoja and Al Jarba have not resigned from party ranks, instead vowing to boost their opposition efforts, freed from the constraints of office and regional pressure.
In solidarity with Hijab, opposition veteran Suhair Atasi stepped down as well, announcing her resignation via Twitter.
The daughter of a muchrespected Arab nationalist and early Baath founder, who fell out with the regime from the mid-70s, wrote: “They asked us to accept Al Assad or there would be no room for us!”
She did not specify which countries had made such a demand, claiming that not one single country was behind it, adding: “Our resignation is a response to an overall international tendency to apply pressure only on the opposition to accept Al Assad the butcher in the transition period.”
The figures excluded from Riyadh are mostly ex-Baathists and regime defectors who hail from cities and towns which were hotbeds of the early anti-regime protests.
Hijab, 51, is a former prime minister from Deir Al Zor, who once headed the Baath Party branch in his native city, and then served as governor of Al Quneitra before becoming minister of agriculture.
Naasan Agha, 70, hails from Idlib in the Syrian northwest. He was a member of parliament under Hafez Al Assad who later became an adviser to Bashar.
Salem Al Muslet, 58, is a native of Al Qamishly in the Syrian northeast and heads the powerful Jabour tribe that bestrides Syria and Iraq.
Educated in the United States, Al Muslet worked for years in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, serving as president of the Syrian Tribal Council and a member of the Executive Council of the Syrian National Council (SNC) that was formed in 2011.