Former Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil has said that the opposition demand that Bashar Assad step down as President has been erased from the agenda of the international conference on Syria to to be held in Geneva.
"He is staying until the end of his presidential term," Jamil said.
Jamil said that his party had warned earlier that the demand for Assad's resignation "will hinder the dialogue."
Jamil also explained the circumstances of his departure from his post last month, saying he did not leave Syria permanently, but traveled to Russia on an official mission, adding that he had not been aware of the decision to dismiss him from his post and that he had received the news only through media channels.
Jamil described talk about his defection as "absurd", saying that "he had never belonged to the regime, and his presence in the Syrian government was as an opposition figure, and that his party, the People's Front for Liberation and Change, had entered the government as opposition."
Translated and edited by the Syrian Observer
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