DUBAI, November 16 (RIA Novosti) – Syria’s main opposition group said Saturday it sees no preconditions for the success of the international peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending Syria’s conflict.
“At first, a platform for the Geneva II talks should be provided, as without serious intentions one should not hope for success,” the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces' Secretary General Badr Jamus said.
Jamus also rejected a statement by Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov calling the opposition’s demands for Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power as “unrealistic.”
The statement comes after Lavrov called on the world community Saturday not to miss a chance to hold an informal meeting in Moscow between Syrian authorities and the opposition, which is expected to prepare the ground for the negotiations.
The Geneva II international peace conference on Syria with the participation of the conflicting sides in the Syrian civil war, and also influential regional countries, the United Nations and major world powers has been delayed several times now over disagreements between its potential participants on the key issues of its convocation.
The conference is designed to be a follow-up to last summer’s international meeting in Geneva that drafted a peace roadmap for Syria.
Syrian media said Saturday citing western diplomats that the conference could take place on December 12.
Some 100,000 people are believed to have died since fighting broke out between Syrian government forces and rebels in March 2011, according to the UN figures.
