Syria’s opposition says President Assad must go, dead or alive

GENEVA: Syria’s opposition on Saturday vowed that President Bashar al-Assad must leave power, dead or alive, if looming peace talks to end five years of civil war are to succeed. UN-brokered talks are set to begin in Geneva on Monday, in the latest international push to end a conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people and forced half the country from their homes.

“We believe that the transitional period should start with the fall, or death, of Bashar al-Assad,” chief opposition negotiator Mohammad Alloush said in an interview with another press agency in Geneva. “It cannot start with the presence of the regime, or the head of this regime still in power.”

The United Nations is pushing for a transitional government and a new constitution to be put in place in six months. Legislative and presidential elections would be held next year. The High Negotiations Committee opposition group has insisted the transitional government be given full executive powers, but the regime dismissed the idea outright ahead of the talks. “We will not talk with anyone who wants to discuss the presidency... Bashar al-Assad is a red line,” Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem told a Damascus news conference Saturday.

“If they (the HNC) continue with this approach, there’s no reason for them to come to Geneva.” Fighting has eased since a landmark ceasefire between Syria’s regime and rebels, bar some Islamist groups, took effect two weeks ago. But Alloush accused the regime and its ally Russia of not abiding by the truce, which it said had been violated hundreds of times since it began on February 27.

AL QAEDA SEIZES WEAPONS, BASES FROM SYRIAN REBELS

BEIRUT: US-backed Syrian rebels say al Qaeda militants have seized their bases and stolen weapons in a series of raids in the northern Idlib province. Division 13 of the Free Syrian Army said on Twitter on Sunday that the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front occupied and looted its posts late the night before.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Nusra seized anti-tank missiles, armoured vehicles, a tank, and other arms from the division, which has received weapons, training, and money from the US government.