RIYADH // Ahrar Al Sham, one of the most powerful armed groups in Syria, said on Wednesday that those attending an opposition meeting in Riyadh must insist president Bashar Al Assad face justice and that the regime’s “institutions of oppression” be dismantled.
The group, which is an ally of Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Al Nusra, said the priority should be overthrowing the regime, preserving Syria’s unity and rejecting sectarianism.
Representatives from Syria’s fragmented opposition began an unprecedented meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, seeking a united front for potential talks with the Assad regime.
Though groups described as “terrorist” organisations, such as Al Nusra and ISIL, were not invited to the two-day, closed-door gathering, it nonetheless marked the first time that a broad range of Syrian political and armed opposition factions had come together since 2011.
Ahrar Al Sham said it was attending despite the “lack of representation of jihadist factions at a level matching their ... role” on the ground in Syria.
But warned it “will not accept the results of this conference” unless they include “cleansing Syrian territories of the Russian-Iranian occupation and sectarian militia supporting them”.
Russia has been conducting air strikes in support of Mr Al Assad for more than two months, while Iran has provided military assistance.
Shiite militia from neighbouring Iraq and Lebanon are also fighting alongside Mr Al Assad’s troops.
On Wednesday, Lebanon’s Hizbollah killed an Al Nusra commander and eight of his men in an attack on their convoy along the Lebanese-Syrian border, the Shiite movement’s media said.
Al Manar television said the convoy of Al Nusra fighters had been travelling on the outskirts of the restive Lebanese border town of Arsal when Hizbollah struck.
Meanwhile, the Jaish Al Islam (Army of Islam) rebel force, which includes hardliners, said it had sent two delegates to the meeting in Riyadh.
The goal of the meeting, attended by about 100 delegates, is to form a unified bloc for talks with Mr Al Assad that world powers hope can be held before January 1.
Saudi foreign minister Adel Al Jubeir, who has repeatedly warned that unless Mr Al Assad steps down peacefully he could be ousted militarily, attended briefly to welcome the delegates and express hope for a successful conclusion.
The talks held at a heavily secured luxury hotel in Riyadh were chaired by Abdulaziz Sager, a Saudi who heads the independent Gulf Research Centre in Geneva.
“The meeting saw a broad participation of Syrian opposition groups inside and outside Syria,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The first day focused on political questions, including the general contours of a potential settlement, while Thursday would be dedicated to discussing “terrorism, a ceasefire and reconstruction,” said a delegate involved in organising the meeting.
By Wednesday afternoon the talks were going “well” and the positions were “close”, another delegate said.
Khaled Khoja, the head of Syria’s main opposition group, the National Coalition, expressed optimism and said he expected the meeting to agree on “forming a negotiating team and on the principles of negotiations” with Mr Al Assad’s regime.
There has been a growing diplomatic push for a resolution to the Syrian conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people and forced millions from their homes.
Last month, top diplomats from 17 countries, including key backers and opponents of Mr Al Assad, agreed in Vienna on a fixed calendar that would see a transition government set up in six months and elections within 18 months.
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said the Riyadh talks were an “important component of the process initiated in Vienna” and wished the meeting “full success”.
“It is essential for the political and armed opposition, which resists the attacks” by Assad’s regime and the Islamic State group to “unite its efforts to form a political interlocutor needed for Syria”, he added.
The United States is hoping to host another round of international talks based on the Vienna format on December 18.
On Wednesday, Russia said Moscow, Washington and the United Nations would hold Syria talks in Geneva on Friday.
Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, in a call with his US counterpart John Kerry on Wednesday, said they needed to draw up a list of “terrorist groups that we must not talk to and that we must fight together”, his ministry said.
Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov on Wednesday deplored that Ahrar Al Sham and Jaish Al Islam, had been invited to the Riyadh talks as they are “strongly suspected of being terrorist organisations”.
Riyadh says invitations were extended to “all factions of the moderate Syrian opposition” including from all parties, sects and ethnic groups.
But Kurdish organisations were not invited, including the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurds, Arab Sunnis and Christians fighting ISIL.
The Kurds, including the leading Democratic Union Party, responded by organising their own two-day conference that started on Tuesday in Syria’s north-eastern province of Hassakeh.
Also on Wednesday, 20 opposition groups tolerated by the regime met in Damascus and elected representatives to hold talks with Mr Al Assad’s government, said one of them, Mahmoud Merii of the National Democratic Action group.
* Agence France-Presse
