Syrian External Opposition Says No Deal With Assad
Syria's external opposition rules out talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while internal opposition forces consider negotiations.
It seems that chances of the Geneva II conference succeeding have declined, following the statements of George Sabra, president of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, on May 29 that the coalition will not take part in this peace initiative so long as Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah are waging war alongside government forces in Syria. The coalition demands also that any negotiations with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must lead to his resignation.
A quick response came on May 30 from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who described the “coalition” demands as “impossible to fulfill” and accused them of seeking to disrupt the peace.
Saleh Mubarak, a member of the Syrian National Council, said in an interview with Al-Monitor that the opposition’s condition to take part in Geneva II is that "Assad and his ruling staff should not play any future role in Syria’s governance. Only the regime’s figures who were not involved in causing the people's bloodshed can participate.”
He added, “We do not want to dismantle the state, but we want to dismantle the regime, and in particular the security services. The regime must be dismantled for the establishment of a new Syria.”
