Syria Rejects Demands of Saudi-Backed Opposition in Geneva Talks

In a press conference following a session of talks with the UN Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, al-Jaafari added that the language used in the Riyadh 2 statement is preconditions and this contravenes the UN Security Council Resolution No.2254.

He was referring to a position adopted by Syrian opposition delegates at a meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh last week, in which they stuck to their demand that President Bashar al-Assad be excluded from any transitional government.

Previously there had been some speculation the opposition could soften its stance ahead of this week’s Geneva negotiations, in response to government advances on the battlefield.

“Therefore, we consider that the Riyadh 2 statement is totally rejected, especially since it does not take into account the political and military developments that took place since the days of the former envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. So we say that it is a return back and a desperate attempt from those who participated in the Riyadh meeting to bring us back to square zero to the days of Brahimi which means a serious attempt to undermine the mission of Special Envoy de Mistura,” al-Jaafari pointed out.

He affirmed that who drafted the language of the Riyadh 2 statement was seeking to undermine the mission of the Special Envoy, noting that “the Geneva process is not in a vicious circle and we agreed on an agenda that includes discussion of the four baskets.”

Al-Jaafari pointed out that there is daily military victory against terrorism and Syria is close to achieve total victory over ISIS Takfiri terrorist group.