Rebel factions in Syria’s bloody 4-year civil war meet in Saudi Arabia this week for a conference as Riyadh looks for a political solution to the crisis.
Around 100 representatives of the Syrian opposition representing 70,000 “moderate rebels” in the fight held the first meeting of its kind in the Saudi capital. Western nations have observer status at the meeting. The groups invited range “from Syrian politicians who have long been living in exile to representatives of rebel militias fighting the regime….but the aim is that it should be a Syrian negotiation led by the revolution’s Sunni Arab backers – with Saudi Arabia at their head,” writes Richard Spencer in the Telegraph.
The Saudi Council of Ministers led by King Salman yesterday stressed that Saudi Arabia is keen on a “political solution” to the Syrian crisis. Saudi Arabia said it “welcomed all groups and movements of the moderate Syrian opposition that consists of different faiths, ethnicities and political inclinations within Syria and outside of it, and urged them to participate in the meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh,” according to a report in the Saudi-owned Asharq Alawsat newspaper, which is based in London.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcome arriving GCC leaders in Riyadh yesterday.
Jim Muir of BBC noted that the meetings were likely to be contentious as longstanding disagreements between rival factions get hashed out. “Given the sensitivity of the issues and the complexity of the players, the Riyadh talks will inevitably be shrouded behind thick veils, obscuring a lot of arguing, cajoling and blandishment.”
Simultaneously, Riyadh is also hosting officials from around the Gulf to meet for a two-day summit on regional security issues. Leaders from the Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates arrived yesterday in Riyadh for the annual summit and are expected to voice support for a bid to unify Syria’s opposition, AFP reports.
