‘If anyone thinks we are going to Geneva 2 to hand the keys to Damascus over (to the opposition), they might as well not go,’ Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said in remarks carried by the official SANA news agency. ‘The decision rests with President Assad. He will lead the period of transition, if there is one. He is the leader of Syria... And he will remain the president of Syria.’
Zohbi also said that Saudi Arabia, one of the main backers of the rebels, should be excluded from the peace conference, accusing it of arming and training ‘terrorists’ fighting in Syria. The rebels battling Assad’s regime in a war that has claimed 126,000 lives since March 2011 have insisted he step down as part of any transition. The two sides are set to meet in Geneva on 22 January in talks brokered by the UN-Arab league envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
The conference is envisioned as a follow-up to Geneva 1 in June 2012, in which the two sides agreed on the formation of a transitional government.
Zohbi also said that Saudi Arabia, one of the main backers of the rebels, should be excluded from the peace conference, accusing it of arming and training ‘terrorists’ fighting in Syria. The rebels battling Assad’s regime in a war that has claimed 126,000 lives since March 2011 have insisted he step down as part of any transition. The two sides are set to meet in Geneva on 22 January in talks brokered by the UN-Arab league envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
The conference is envisioned as a follow-up to Geneva 1 in June 2012, in which the two sides agreed on the formation of a transitional government.