Syria opposition deal under fire

BEIRUT—Syria’s al-Qaida affiliate on Saturday rejected the outcome of an opposition summit that agreed to negotiate with President Bashar al-Assad, while Russia denounced the gathering in Saudi Arabia as unrepresentative.

The latest developments come with US Secretary of State John Kerry due in Moscow on Tuesday in a new bid to push for a peace plan to end Syria’s nearly five-year conflict.

In a sign of the tough task ahead, at least 16 people were killed on Saturday near a hospital in an Alawite area of the central city of Homs. The Islamic State group (IS) claimed the attack.

The Moscow meeting would build on the momentum of the Vienna talks held last month, and an unprecedented two-day gathering this week in Riyadh among Syria’s main political and armed opposition groups.

Those talks yielded an agreement to negotiate with Assad’s regime, but also insisted that the president step down at the start of any political transition.

But al-Nusra Front chief Abu Mohamed al-Jolani said the outcome of the talks was a “plot,” and accused rebels who had attended of “treason.”

“It is a plot, not a conference. Such... gatherings must be foiled,” Jolani, head of the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, told Orient News during an interview.

Jolani said the opposition had met under international “pressure,” but warned that even if they reached agreement “they do not have the power to implement it on the ground.”

Russia, a key Assad ally, also denounced the Saudi talks.

“We cannot agree with an attempt made by the group that gathered in Riyadh to monopolize the right to speak on behalf of the entire Syrian opposition,” the foreign ministry said.

Moscow also took issue with the exclusion of Kurdish factions from the Saudi talks and the absence of the socalled “patriotic Syrian opposition” tolerated by the Damascus regime.

Russia’s stance would make Kerry’s visit tougher, especially after he acknowledged there was “difficult work ahead” as he welcomed the Saudi talks.

In an indication of the complexity of the US-Russian relationship, the State Department said Kerry would meet President Vladimir Putin, but the Kremlin would not confirm this.

AFP ORMIA, a Syriac-Christian member of an all-female militia, loads her weapon at a Syrian camp near the Turkish border. The group, known as the “Female Protection Forces of the Land Between the Two Rivers,” hopes to see action against Islamic State extremists.