Syria’s Opposition to Hold Peace Talks With Assad-Led Government in January

Members of various factions of Syria’s opposition will meet with the country’s government next month in an attempt to broker a deal that will end a five-year-long bloody civil war, the chairman of an opposition conference held in Saudi Arabia said Friday.

The two-day conference in the Saudi capital city Riyadh ended with more than 100 members of Syria’s political opposition as well as rebel groups agreeing to join forces in preparing for peace talks with the government led by Syrian President Bashar Assad, Reuters reports.

The talks, which exclude certain extremist groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) and al-Nusra Front, as well as Kurdish forces controlling swaths of the country’s north, will reportedly take place in the first 10 days of January. A statement at the end of this week’s Riyadh conference called for Assad to step down and initiate a transition period leading to an inclusive, democratic Syrian government.

[Reuters]