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Key Syrian Rebel Group Pulls Out of Opposition Talks

by VOA News December 10, 2015

One of Syria's main rebel groups has pulled out of opposition talks aimed at forging a united front prior to potential discussions with the Damascus regime.

Ahrar al-Sham said it withdrew Thursday to protest the role given to groups it feels are too close to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Ahrar al-Sham, a Saudi-backed ultraconservative group that operates mainly in northern Syria, withdrew at the end of a two-day conference in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the conference appeared to be 'very constructive,' but that it is too soon to schedule a new round of peace talks. He made his remarks on the sidelines of a U.N. climate conference in Paris.

;Kerry told reporters planning is underway for a potential meeting in New York, under U.N. auspices. 'It's not locked in yet, but the meeting in Saudi Arabia appears to be very constructive at this point, and we need to wait for the results of that conference,' the secretary of state said.

Opposition groups

The meeting in Riyadh included representatives from the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition and even some Islamist insurgent groups.

A peace plan agreed to last month by 20 countries meeting in Vienna set a January 1 deadline for the start of talks between rebel groups and Assad's government.

In related news, diplomats from the United States, Russia and the United Nations plan to meet Friday in Geneva to discuss ways to advance the peace process in Syria. Assistant Secretary of State Anne Patterson will lead the U.S. delegation.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told Russia's RIA news agency Moscow will use the meeting to call for an 'intensification of joint efforts' against terrorism.

The U.S. and Russia have struggled to find common ground as they carry out separate military campaigns in Syria, where a civil war has killed more than 250,000 people.

Most U.S. airstrikes have targeted the Islamic State extremist group, while Russia's warplanes have mostly hit other Syrian rebel groups, including some backed by the West.

The talks in Geneva will focus on efforts to forge a political transition and on the 'framework and the architecture for a cease-fire,' State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

The U.N. special peace envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will take part in the so-called 'Geneva process,' agreed to last month, which aims to host a meeting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Syria's fragmented opposition by early January.