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Syrian oppositions possible to meet gov't delegation early next year

Xinhua, December 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Syrian oppositions announced on Thursday they might meet with President Bashar al-Assad's delegation in early January next year, Al Arabiya local news reported.

The announcement came when the opposition groups wrapped up their two-day talks here in Riyadh, where they reiterated that President Assad should step down at the start of any political transition of the war-torn country.

The groups also agreed to form a negotiation body that is based in Riyadh, and is tasked to team up the negotiators. The location of negotiation with the Syrian government has not been disclosed.

The talks aimed to find a political solution to end an almost five years of civil war and bring stability back to Syria by getting the opposition to have a unify stance about the future of Syria.

The oppositions have long been demanding the departure of President Assad, while countries like Russia and Iran believe that the future of Syria should include all factions of the country.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, some 100 representatives of the Syrian opposition groups agreed that all segment of the Syrian society need to be represented in the future political system.

The participants also agreed that the Syrian crisis has to be settled via political solutions, and vowed to rebuild security and military authorities.

They rejected the presence of all foreign fighters and armed groups and demanded their immediate departure.

Russia has been launching its own strikes against Syrian terrorists at the request of Assad since late September, and has repeatedly denied allegations that its attacks were aimed at Syrian opposition or civilian targets.

In Tehran, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said his country does not approve the oppositions' meeting in Riyadh.

Some groups with links to Daesh (Islamic State in Arabic) were in the meeting, and the terrorists will never be allowed to decide the future of Syria, he was quoted by Iranian Students' news agency (ISNA) as saying.

The United Nations, in consultation with other countries, is responsible for identifying opposition groups or terrorists in Syria, Amir-Abdollahian said. Endit