Syrian opposition leaders to meet in Cairo

High-profile figures of Syria's two major opposition groups will meet in Egypt's Cairo within the next couple of days to discuss broader representation of the Syrian opposition groups in the second round of talks of the Geneva II peace conference, a Syrian opposition leader said Tuesday.

Hasan Abdul-Azim, the head of the domestically-based National Coordination Body (NCB) is expected to meet with Ahmad al-Jarba, the head of the exiled Syrian National Coalition (SNC), the main opposition group in exile, the opposition leader told Xinhua.

"Hasan Abdul-Azim along with Safwan Akkasheh (another member of the NCB) will head to Cairo tomorrow (Wednesday) to meet with other opposition groups, mainly the coalition and its leader Ahmad Jarba" he said.

He added that the meeting aims at finding a "mutual mechanism" for broader representation of the opposition in the next round of the Geneva II talks, due to open Feb10.

The opposition groups have complained that they were not invited to take part in the Geneva II conference as independent entities. The US, one of the sponsors of the conference, said that other parties could participate under the SNC umbrella.

The opposition groups, mainly the NCB, said there was no way they would partake under the SNC umbrella, demanding an equal representation in a unified opposition delegation but not in the SNC shadow.

The first round of talks wrapped up last Friday with no results.