The President of the Syrian National Council, George Sabra, has said that the opposition in the country is counting on the upcoming conference in Riyadh under the auspices of Saudi Arabia. Opposition groups also view the governments in Riyadh, Ankara and Doha as the main supporters of the Syrian people.
“The Riyadh conference is expected to clarify part of our vision for the future, and could contribute to the unification of political and military forces on the ground,” Sabra told Quds Press. He explained that the Syrian opposition has taken significant steps to unify itself, and the Syrian people know this.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is touring the Middle East at the moment, starting yesterday with talks in Abu Dhabi to discuss ways to build a coalition of Syrian opposition to lead the peace talks with representatives of the regime. “The Syrian people have joined the opposition,” commented Sabra, “as they did in Cairo in 2012 and last year when we met in Paris and Geneva. They know the true opposition, because it is more than four decades old.”
He pointed out that Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime are living in increasing international isolation, especially after it was revealed that 95 per cent of Russia’s military targets in Syria belong to the Free Syrian Army and Syrian civilians. “As such,” he concluded, “the UN General Assembly’s recent call on Russia and Iran to pull out of Syria confirms that Russian and Iranian propaganda has been exposed, and that they have failed to rehabilitate the Syrian regime.”