Story highlights Syrian opposition says it can't achieve fair negotiations "without the departure of Bashar al-Assad and his regime members"The UN-backed peace talks are set to begin on November 28 in Geneva, Switzerland(CNN) Key Syrian opposition groups insist that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should play no role in any transitional period under any peace deal supervised by the United Nations. Saudi Arabia hosted a two-day "expanded" conference for the Syrian opposition forces in Riyadh on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of the UN-backed peace talks set for Geneva, Switzerland, to find a solution for the war-torn country. In its draft resolution of the Riyadh meeting, Syrian opposition groups said they can't achieve fair negotiations "without the departure of Bashar al-Assad and his regime members at the beginning of the transitional period." The Syrian opposition factions also called on the United Nations through its representative "to take immediate necessary measures to activate the political process and to correct the Geneva negotiations by holding direct and unconditional negotiations between representatives from the Syrian opposition members and Syrian regime members," the draft said. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has also repeatedly said there is no place for Assad in Syria's futureRead More

Source: CNN November 23, 2017 23:26 UTC