(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Russia has invited 28 Syrian opposition figures to Moscow for talks later this month in preparation for a dialogue with the regime, an opposition source said yesterday.
"There are 28 opposition figures who have received an invitation to the planned Moscow meeting," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
They include the head of the key Syrian National Coalition opposition grouping, Hadi Al Bahra, as well as two former Coalition chiefs, Moaz Al Khatib and Abdel Basset Sida.
The list also includes members of the tolerated domestic opposition, including Hassan Abdel Aazim, Aref Dailia and Fateh Jamous. Qadri Jamil, a former deputy prime minister who was sacked in 2013 and has good ties with Russia, was also invited.
It was not immediately clear whether any of the invitations had been accepted.
The Coalition's general assembly is due to meet in Turkey for three days beginning today is expected to discuss the invitations.
Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, has been trying to relaunch peace talks that would include meetings between delegates of the regime and the fractured opposition.
In December, the foreign ministry said Moscow planned to host opposition delegations in late January, possibly followed by a visit by regime representatives that could bring the two sides together for talks.
Several opposition groups are also expected to meet in Cairo in coming weeks to form a unified front, according to opposition sources, though a timetable and list of participants has not been made public. More than 200,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011.
Two successive rounds of UN-brokered talks between the regime and opposition failed to achieve agreement.
Meanwhile, a new Syrian opposition group linked to a prominent cleric said yesterdayPresident Assad would have to step down as part of any political solution to the civil war, setting out its position ahead of possible peace talks in Moscow this month.
Assad's ally Russia is seeking to gather Syrian government and opposition figures at the end of January to discuss ways to end the nearly four-year conflict which has killed around 200,000 people according to the United Nations.
Moaz Al Khatib, a former opposition chief and former imam of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, posted a statement on his Facebook page yesterday which said there would not be a solution "without the departure of the head of the regime".
Assad has dismissed calls to step down by Khatib and other figures in the past. Opposition groups and their Western and Arab allies say the Syrian president has lost legitimacy and must go. Khatib said the statement was on behalf of the "Syria Al Watan" (home) organisation and was addressed to the Syrian people. It was not immediately clear whether he was the head of the group and which other members it included. He was not immediately available for comment.
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