DAMASCUS (Sputnik) – On Thursday, a three-day conference aimed at unifying Syrian opposition parties' stances ahead of the next round of Syrian peace talks with international mediators concluded in Riyadh. The participants of the conference in Riyadh demand that Syria's President Bashar Assad steps down in the start of the transitional period.
“I never thought about leaving Syria under any circumstances, in any situation, something I never put in my mind, like the Americans say “plan B” or “plan C.” Actually, no,” Assad said, as quoted by the EFE news agency.
However, the president added that if the majority of the Syrian population wanted him to leave his post, he would have done it “the same day.”
“If I have a problem with the Syrians, with the majority of the Syrians, and you have the national and regional countries being against me, and the West, most of the West, the United States, their allies, the strongest countries and the richest countries in the world against me, and I’m against the Syrian people, how can I be president? It’s not logical.”
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with the army loyal to Assad fighting several opposition factions and militant groups, including the al-Nusra Front and Islamic State, outlawed in Russia and many other countries.
The negotiations with the Syrian legitimate leadership will be held by a special committee formed by the conference participants, a source told Sputnik Thursday.
