Zarif Says It Is Up to U.N. to Decide Who Represents Syrian Opposition in Geneva Talks

DAVOS, Switzerland, (ST)- Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has stressed  that it was up to the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan De Mistura not to the Saudi Foreign Minister to decide who should represent the Syrian opposition in the talks with the Syrian government due to start this month in Geneva.

Zarif on Wednesday told a news conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the opposition delegation should not include members of internationally recognized “terrorist groups”.

Those were so-called “Islamic State”, also known as ISIS or Daesh, al Qaeda and the Nusra Front, he said, adding that 10 “card-carrying members” of al Qaeda had attended an opposition meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, convened allegedly to form a delegation for the Geneva talks.

Zarif reiterated that there is no military solution to the crisis in Syria and pointed out that it is not logical to put preconditions or determine any results before the talks start.

He repeated Tehran’s insistence that it was up to Syrians to decide the fate of their country’s leadership through elections after a new constitution is negotiated in the scheduled talks.

On Tuesday, the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced his rejection of what he called “any pressure” on the Syrian opposition in terms of forming its delegation.

Hamda Mustafa