Syrian Opposition Expresses 10 Demands to Damascus

MOSCOW, January 28 (Sputnik) – The Syrian opposition has expressed 10 demands to Damascus that will be discussed later on Wednesday, a negotiator from the opposition al-Watan (Homeland) political party said.

“This morning we gave our demands consisting of 10 points to the government. The government delegation has not responded yet. Obviously the discussion of these questions will happen this afternoon after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov,” Majd Niazi said before intra-Syrian talks in Moscow.

Moscow is currently hosting the talks for a solution to the four-year conflict in Syria that has left more than 200,000 people dead. The meeting in the Russian capital is the first to address the Syrian crisis since a UN-backed conference in Geneva last year failed to yield significant results.

Negotiations taking place from January 26 to 29 have brought together Syrian government officials, representatives from opposition parties and UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

Meetings between Syrian opposition groups were held on January 26 and 27, while negotiations between the Syrian opposition and a government delegation are taking place on on January 28 and 29.

On the first day of the talks, Syrian President Bashar Assad said the Moscow talks should be considered a preparation for a conference to settle the conflict in Syria.