MOSCOW, January 8 (RIA Novosti) – The oppositional Syrian National Coalition would postpone until January 17 the decision on whether to participate in the Geneva-2 peace conference, a coalition representative said late Tuesday, media reported.
The conference, lobbied by the United States and Russia and set to kick off on January 22, is expected to negotiate a peaceful end to the civil strife in Syria.
While the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad agreed to participate, the opposition remains split on the issue.
The moderate Syrian National Coalition, which is holding a congress outside Istanbul this week, previously called to postpone Geneva-2.
A number of Islamist groups earlier rejected the conference and threatened violence against participants.
The rift between radicals and moderates in the Syrian opposition is growing, with a spate of violence between opposition groups leaving at least 270 dead in recent days, according to AFP.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a leading jihadist group, accused the Syrian National Coalition this week of declaring war on Islamists.
At least 100,000 people were killed in Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, according to UN.
The UN said on Tuesday it would stop counting the victims because of limited access to information on the ground.
