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Conflict in Syria

Moscow group expects HNC to be ready to form united delegation of Syrian opposition

MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. It is possible to unite various groups of the Syrian opposition during the Geneva talks but the goal is to form a united delegation comprising members of all groups, head of the Syrian opposition’s Moscow Group Qadri Jamil told TASS on Tuesday.

When asked if some opposition groups could unite in order to oppose the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Jamil said that the Moscow and the Cairo groups had been bringing their positions closer together. "But we want to form a united delegation of all the opposition groups so we are waiting for the Riyadh-based group to express readiness to unite."

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Jamil went on to say that the attitude towards the Syrian crisis had changed on the global level. In particular, he pointed to the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s statement in which he said that "the longer-term status of [Syrian] President Bashar Assad will be decided by the Syrian people." "Members of the Riyadh-based group have come to understand that they can’t rely only on the US and do whatever they want," Jamil added. "If your policy is based on Washington’s support then you will be deadlocked in the end."

"I believe that under these circumstances, conditions can be created for forming a united delegation," he added.

The fifth round of the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva involved the HNC, Moscow and Cairo opposition groups. Besides, members of the so-called Astana group and the united Damascus platform were also present in Geneva but did not participate in discussions. The HNC delegation was the largest. The committee claims to represent the entire Syrian opposition saying that uniting with other opposition members will only be possible if they adopt the Riyadh-based group’s approaches.

The Moscow group believes that opposition groups do not need to review their positions before forming a united delegation while the delegation should include equal number of representatives of all the groups.

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Syrian conflict

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