No role for Assad in transitional period, opposition says before London talks

Reporting by Abdullah Ghadawi

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The so called “London Paper” is nothing more than re-framing the outcomes of former negotiations and agreements especially the conference in Cairo 2012, that all military formations agreed on, according to an opposition well-informed source. 

A source from inside the High Committee for Negotiations explained to Zaman Al Wasl that the latest meeting in Riyadh in last two days has re-structured the ideas of the Syrian National council and the National Coalition and all other coordination meetings among opposition’s bodies, denying any new issue in the paper intended to be discussed in London meeting that going to be held in days.

Zaman Al Wasl sources expected that attending the meeting by big number of Arabic Foreign Affairs ministers involved in Syrian crisis, would form pressure and might have positive impact, as well as the military achievement of the opposition on ground, despite the expected Russia's supporting position to al-Assad. 

On the other hand, Zaman Al Wasl expected that the outcomes that UN envoy to Syria Staffan De Mistura reached to would affect the process of the meeting in London. 

Three days ago, the high committee for Negotiation announced revealing a plan for peaceful transition. Hind Kabawat, a member of Syria’s main opposition group, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), explained that the plan would include the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers. Besides the length of the transition period.

The formation of a transitional governing body has been a key area of disagreement in the stalled UN-mediated peace talks, because it indicates the end of the tyrant one-sided rule practices by Bashar al-Assad.

After more than 5 and a half year of war, still no definite sign that the war is going to stop soon. More that to 400,000 have died and half of Syria’s population has been displaced.