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Conflict in Syria

Syrian opposition forms single delegation for Geneva talks

Mohammad Sabra, a senior HNC member, was named chief negotiator at the talks

KUWAIT CITY, February 12. /TASS/. The High Negotiations Committee (HNC) of the Syrian opposition's conference in Riyadh announced Sunday that a single delegation was formed to take part in the upcoming reconciliation talks in Geneva, opposition forces said in a joint communiqu·.

According to the text, a total of 21 delegates will take part in negotiations. Half of them are representatives of armed groups, while others are members of the HNC political wing, independent opposition figures and participants of the Moscow and Cairo groups of the Syrian opposition.

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Mohammad Sabra, a senior HNC member, was named chief negotiator at the talks.

On February 10-11, Riyadh hosted a meeting of Syrian opposition that brought together members of the Syrian National Coalition, the NHC and representatives of Syrian armed groups who attended the January 23-24 reconciliation talks in the Kazakh capital Astana.

The latest round of Geneva talks was held on April 13-27, 2016 and brought no result. De Mistura planned to resume discussions last May but the date of the meeting had been postponed many times.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura announced last month that he would postpone the Geneva talks between Damascus and the opposition from February 8 until February 20. De Mistura said the UN seeks to give time to implement the agreement reached at the Astana meeting on setting up a ceasefire monitoring mechanism. If the ceasefire is ensured, this will contribute to the success of the Geneva talks, he said.

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