AFP – 8 December 2015 – A Syrian opposition meeting begun in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday marks the most serious effort yet to unify President Bashar al-Assad’s fragmented enemies, a step seen as vital to peace talks sought by world powers but which has riled Iran.
These conferences come after a worldwide agreement to launch talks between the government and opposition in January.
The Ahrar al-Sham group has also been invited but has not yet said if it will attend.
Next week’s gathering will be attended by around 65 members of the political and armed opposition, including around 15 representatives from armed groups.
Most of the main rebel factions have been invited to the Riyadh talks, including the Western-backed Free Syrian Army.
Munzer Akbik, a member of the Syrian National Coalition, said that it would be hard to agree on the individuals who will negotiate with the regime.
Interestingly, the Saudis deny excluding the Kurds, though the YPG’s political wing has reiterated that they’ve still not received any invitation, and nor does any other Kurdish faction appear to have gotten one.
Riyadh now sees an opportunity to shape the war in Syria after the Russian intervention, the European refugee crisis and the Paris attacks reawakened worldwide engagement with the conflict and the threat posed by Islamic State.
“Riyadh is trying to bring as broad a cross-section of Syrian opposition groups as possible” Jubeir had said, adding that groups on “terrorist lists” such as ISIL would not be part of the talks.
Charles Lister, visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre, told AFP that the talks aim “to go some way towards establishing an opposition negotiating team”.
While previous attempts to reach a political solution to the conflict have not gone far, that planning for the talks are happening in Saudi Arabia makes this meeting different, said Mr Al Sarhan, who works for the King Faisal Centre in Riyadh.
The Syrian National Coalition, headed by Khaled Khoja, aims to replace Syria’s current leadership with a transitional government after achieving global recognition.