Opposition Group Aims To Attend Syria Talks

ISTANBUL—Syrian opposition leaders said they aim to attend peace talks and hope to win the support of rebel forces on the ground who have long disapproved of the negotiations.

Early Monday morning, the main Western-backed coalition of opposition groups, the Syrian National Council, agreed to join proposed negotiations in Geneva with the regime of Bashar al-Assad with two preconditions: the release of women and children prisoners from Syrian jails, and the creation of humanitarian corridors to besieged areas.

These areas include the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus, where thousands of people have gone months lacking food, drinking water and medicine.

Syrian government officials and rebels reached a deal to ease a blockade on a rebel-held town near Damascus on Sunday, the Associated Press reported, allowing food to reach civilians there for the first time in weeks, activists said.

Although “talking to the enemy” is necessary to resolve the conflict, coalition members said they continued to agree that any peace process must result in the removal of Mr. Assad from power.

“Those who are responsible for the catastrophe in Syria cannot be part of the political process,” said the former head of the council, Abdulbaset Sieda late Sunday. “Assad and his group must be out. That’s our red line,” he added. “Other people in the government and the state are not a problem for us.” . That’s our red line. Other people in the government and the state are not a problem for us

In October, Mr. Assad damped some hopes for a compromise between the regime and the rebels, saying on Lebanese television that he wanted to run re-election next year and referring to the opposition as “mercenaries.” Meanwhile, the military wing of the Western-backed opposition, the Free Syrian Army, or FSA, is increasingly being sidelined by Islamist and al-Qaeda-affiliated groups. Meanwhile, the military wing of the Western-backed opposition, the Free Syrian Army, or FSA, is increasingly being sidelined by Islamist and al-Qaeda-affiliated groups.

Monzer Akbik, chief of staff of the coalition’s presidency, said the group hopes to win a consensus of support from rebel forces fighting the regime.

“We understand that there will always be some opposition to our decision, but we will try and explain the decision to different groups in Syria the best we can,” Mr. Akbik said after the coalition came to its agreement.

But convincing the rebels inside Syria to agree to talks they have long resisted may prove to be difficult.

“They gather in nice hotels in Istanbul as we suffer and die in Syria,” said Mohamed Hossein, an Arab rebel activist from the predominantly Kurdish Syrian city of Al-Qamishli, who attended the conference in Istanbul.

“We are against Geneva talks, because these talks will empower the regime,” Mr. Hossein said.

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