Not been invited to Astana talks, says Syrian opposition

The High Negotiations Committee (HNC), a coalition of Syrian opposition groups, said that they have not been invited to the negotiation meeting set to take place within the next few weeks in the Kazakh capital of Astana.

On Tuesday, the HNC reaffirmed in a statement issued in Riyadh its commitments to a "political solution" to the conflict, in accordance with the Geneva declaration of 2012, the Riyadh conference and similar resolutions issued by the UN Security Council, Efe news reported.

It is also committed to participating in serious negotiations that will take place within the framework of international legitimacy and under the umbrella of the UN, according to the note.

Those negotiations, in the view of the opposition body, should lead to a political transition with a clear timetable, and not include Syrian President Bashar al-Assad or those who have committed crimes against Syrians.

Two weeks ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to hold a new round of talks in Astana in order to relaunch the peace process, the last round of which took place last April in Geneva.

--IANS

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