This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
Tuesday 08 Dec 2015 - 14:03 Makkah mean time-26-2-1437
Riyadh, (IINA) - Syria's fragmented opposition groups are due to meet in Riyadh in an attempt to unify ahead of possible peace talks. The meeting, which brings together armed and political factions, aims to create a common position from which to negotiate with the government, BBC reported.
World powers meeting in Vienna seek for formal talks to begin between the Syrian government and opposition by January.
Division among the different Syrian opposition factions has hampered diplomacy, with a previous Turkey-based political opposition seen as out of touch with fighters on the ground.
Jaish Al-Islam, a prominent armed opposition faction near Damascus and controls most of the Eastern Ghouta suburb, stated that it will participate in Riyadh talks.
However, the group's commander Zahran Alloush will not attend, reportedly because his forces lost control of a road he was planning to use to leave Damascus.
A dozen Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel groups will also attend, including groups vetted by the United States that have received foreign military aid.
"Saudi is a pivotal state in the region and for it to take this step (hosting a conference of the Syrian opposition factions) certainly something real will result from it", the head of one of the FSA groups told Reuters.
The Ahrar Al-Sham group - which has fought alongside Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front - has also been invited but has not yet said if it will attend.
Al-Nusra Front and ISIS were not invited to the meeting. A Syrian Kurdish group that controls large parts of northern Syria and has fought against ISIS with United States aid also said that it had not been invited.
AG/IINA
|
No comments:
Post a Comment