The Assad regime has delayed sending negotiators to the Swiss city of Geneva for the eighth round of United Nations-led political negotiations in response to the closing statement of the Riyadh II conference.
Regime media quoted a diplomatic source saying the Syrian government was “displeased” with the closing statement of the second Syrian opposition conference held in the Saudi capital, “especially the issue of representation for all opposition components and preconditions.”
The statement, which was issued from the Riyadh II conference on Thursday, called for the departure of the regime's President Bashar al-Assad and rejected Iranian intervention in Syria as well as its policy of carrying out demographic change.
The source said that the regime saw the statement as a “return to square one … especially toward the imposition of preconditions on the talks, such as the demand that President Bashar al-Assad leave power at the beginning of the transitional stage.”
The regime also considered the statement a “violation of international Resolution 2254 in terms of the representation of the full opposition spectrum because these parties were free of the participation of internal opposition,” the diplomat said.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
