Syria Opposition Figures Meet in Damascus, Reject Foreign Interference

Local Editor

As they called for regime change in Syria, some 15 opposition parties rejected foreign interference in the ongoing crisis in the country.

During the "National Conference for Rescuing Syria" which was held on Sunday in the capital, opposition figures discussed peaceful ways to end the conflict and help unite the fragmented opposition.

Sunday's meeting at a hotel in Damascus was held under tight security and on the initiative of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Changes in Syria.

The ambassadors of Russia, China, Iran and some Arab states that have maintained their diplomatic presence in Syria were also attending the forum.

The conference’s main aim is to secure an “immediate ceasefire” by the conflicting parties and “transfer the armed conflict between the authorities and the opposition into a peaceful political process,” Russian Ambassador to Damascus Azamat Kulmukhametov said in his address to the forum’s participants.

“We are convinced that a dialog without preconditions is the sole way out of the current crisis whose continuation bodes no good either for Syria or for the region as a whole,” he said.

The Arab media have reported the opposition conference will discuss a change of the current Syrian regime, a transition to a civil democratic state and the dangers of the forceful scenario in the country.
The Damascus conference is being held amid disagreements inside the Syrian opposition, with some opposition activists and groups boycotting its work.

For its part, the so-called “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) has not recognized the conference, saying its participants do not “represent a true opposition and are only another face of the Syrian regime.”

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