A group of Arab and the Western countries on Tuesday agreed with Syria’s moderate opposition that President Bashar al-Assad should have no role in any future Syrian Government.
The group of 11 countries — Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Italy, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UAE and the US, dubbed as Friends of Syria — during talks with the opposition discussed ways to ensure that the Geneva II conference must be about a political transition in Syria away from the Assad regime.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, after the talks here, said, “We are as clear as he is that Assad has no role in a peaceful and democratic Syria.” Without giving details, Hague told reporters that a “number of important steps” were agreed on during the meeting with Ahmad Jarba, head of the Syrian National Coalition.
Syria’s moderate opposition should “commit itself fully” to planned peace talks, he said. The Syrian opposition coalition had agreed to attend the london talks, saying it would focus on “these countries’ understandings about Geneva II and what it should result in”. The Syrian National Council, a key member of the opposition’s National Coalition, has opposed the Geneva talks as long as Assad remains in power.
US Secretary of State John Kerry earlier said that the Syrian opposition would never agree to Assad staying in power. “He has bombed and gassed people in his country...How can that man claim to rule under any legitimacy in the futureIJ” Kerry had said after talks with Arab league officials in Paris.