MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova — Syrian President Bashar Assad’s willingness to cooperate with the armed opposition in the country in the anti-terror fight shows that a comprehensive peace agreement is possible in the country, a member of a Syrian opposition party told Sputnik.
On Thursday, following Tuesday's talks with Assad, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Syrian leader was ready to consider Moscow providing support to some Syrian opposition groups, provided their goal was to fight terrorism.
"It shows that there is a way for the Syrian Army and the combating opposition to sit around the table like what they currently do in different areas across Syria where they agreed on a ceasefire and to extend these local ceasefire agreements to comprehensive peace," Samir Aita of the Syrian Democratic Forum opposition party told Sputnik on Friday.
Syria has been in the state of a civil war since 2011, with troops loyal to president Assad battling several opposition factions.
Aside from the rebels, the Syrian forces have also been fighting against extremist insurgent groups, including jihadists from the Islamic State (ISIL) militant group.
Russia launched pinpoint airstrikes against ISIL extremists in Syria on September 30 at Assad’s request. The United States has been conducting airstrikes against ISIL in Syria since 2014, without approval from Damascus, as well as providing support to the so-called moderate opposition factions.
Since the beginning of Moscow's aerial campaign, Russia has repeatedly emphasized its readiness to cooperate with the US-backed moderate Syrian opposition.
