Syria oppn picks chief negotiator ahead of new Geneva dialogue

riyadh/amman — Syria’s main opposition group selected a new chief negotiator on Friday ahead of a new round of UN-backed peace negotiations with the Damascus government set to kick off next week.

Nasr Hariri said the opposition was going to Geneva on November 28 to hold direct talks and was ready to discuss “everything on the negotiating table”.

The announcement came at a summit in Riyadh where, a day before, the opposition stuck by its demand that President Bashar Al Assad play no role in an interim period, despite speculation that it could soften its stance because of Assad’s battlefield strength.

The opposition groups met to seek a unified position ahead of Geneva after two years of Russian military intervention that has helped Assad’s government reverse major territorial losses incurred since the beginning of the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a congress of the Syrian government and opposition to draw up a framework for the future structure of the Syrian state, adopt a new constitution and hold elections under UN supervision.

But he also said any political settlement in Syria would be finalised within the Geneva talks process overseen by the UN.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir, who opened the summit on Wednesday pledging his country’s support for unifying the opposition, praised the creation of “one negotiating team that represents everyone”.

Asked if there was any change in position towards Assad’s future, he told reporters that Riyadh continued to support a settlement based on the UN-backed process at Geneva.

“We support the positions of the Syrian opposition. We have from the beginning and we will continue to do so,” he said. —