Saudi Arabia hosts moderate Syrian opposition groups

Syria’s moderate opposition groups have arrived at the Saudi capital Riyadh in an attempt to unify their stance in preparation for future talks with embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

Saudi confirmed its readiness to give all the facilitation possible to allow these Syrian opposition groups to consult with each other independently to come out with a unified stance as agreed in Geneva I.

The Geneva I agreement was signed at a peace conference in 2012, laying the groundwork for a transitional government. The agreement signed mandates Assad to immediately cede power to an executive council with full powers made up of both members of his regime and opposition figures.

Sources said the participants are around 100 figures and are compromised of different opposition factions including the main Western-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC) and the Damascus-based National Coordination Committee for the Forces of Democratic Change (NCC).

Other opposition figures such as Louay Hussein, who is the co-founder and president of Building the Syrian State, a political movement that brings together individuals from various ideological backgrounds.

Prepping the Syrian opposition groups come after Al Arabiya News Channel reported in early December that a conference that was meant to take place in Vienna grouping Syria’s warring sides will instead take place in New York on Dec. 18.
These conferences come after an international agreement to launch talks between the government and opposition in January.