Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Major Syrian Opposition Groups Likely to Attend Talks in Kazakhstan: Report

Major Syrian Opposition Groups Likely to Attend Talks in Kazakhstan: Report

MOSCOW - Major Syrian opposition groups, including the largest one, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), are likely to attend the upcoming talks on the Syrian settlement in Astana, Kazakhstan, Russian media reported Friday.
"We are in touch with the political opposition. With all of them, including the HNC," Mahmoud Afandi, member of the Syrian opposition delegation and secretary of the Syrian Popular Diplomacy Movement, was quoted as saying by the RIA-Novosti News agency.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, a Syrian opposition delegation arrived in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the Russia-Turkey brokered talks between warring sides in the Middle East country. 
Mustafa Sheikh, the delegation leader, said that the opposition members could meet Syrian government representatives in Kazakhstan's capital of Astana.
"There will be military personnel at the meeting, let the military make an agreement. But I am not excluding a possibility of contact with the representatives of Damascus in Astana," Sheikh said.
Meanwhile, Afandi said that representatives of the Syrian political opposition would attend the Astana talks as advisors, staying "behind the curtain," while representatives of various "military organizations" will participate in the talks directly.
Afandi said that Damascus will be represented by an official from the Syrian Defense Ministry.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the delegation was hosted by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who is also Russia's presidential representative on the Middle East and Africa. (Xinhua)