BEIRUT, January 28. /TASS/. The Syrian Negotiations Committee "made a big mistake" when it refused to take part in the National Dialogue Congress in Sochi due on January 29-30, Lebanese analyst Nidal Sabi, an expert on Syrian opposition groups, told TASS.
According to the expert, the Riyadh group of the Syrian opposition, "has fallacious illusions of US importance in the post-war settlement."
"The US policy demonstrates that they are not interested in ending the conflict in Syria and seek to separate the country with the help of the Kurdish separatist movement," he said. "The only thing they are interested in is to preserve military bases created in Kurdish districts."
"If Washington was indeed interested in restoring peace and stability on the Syrian soil, it would have joined the Astana process long ago to become one of the ceasefire guarantor nations," the expert added.
The Syrian National Dialogue Congress is due to take place in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi on January 29-30. The peace conference is expected to bring together about 1,500 participants from the entire spectrum of Syria’s political forces.
On Saturday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed his support for the event and said UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura will take part in the congress.