Riyadh conference and unprecedented unity amongst Syrian opposition

December 2015

The conference held in Riyadh was a great victory for the Syrian people and opposition and considered a serious defeat for the criminal Assad regime and its allies, being the Iranian regime and Russia as they never expected such solidarity amongst the Syrian opposition and had placed all their efforts to push this summit to a failure. On the other hand, this conference was an initiative launched by Saudi Arabia, also unprecedented, and a heavy blow to the Iranian regime. Following Operation Decisive Storm and defeating Tehran in Yemen, Saudi Arabia is pursuing a campaign to become the main force uniting Arab countries and bring an end to the Iranian regime’s meddling across the Middle East.

The Riyadh conference rendered two important achievements for the Syrian opposition whereas they were unable in realizing these objectives in the past 5 years.

The first gained result is signs of a real perspective for a political solution in the current stage, which brings an end to the existing threats. This traces a path to relieve the Syrian nation from an autocratic and murderous regime. This achievement means that Syria can actually be heading towards a pluralistic democratic regime. Through the Geneva statement and its annexes – all establishing a foundation to resolve the Syria crisis and agreed upon by the international community – the Syrian people can gear their headings towards freedom, justice and equality.

The second achievement of this summit was the appointment of a negotiating delegation representing various political, military and social groups attended. This delegation is on one hand a focal point on the ground for the negotiations, and is obligated to appoint a negotiating team to sit down across the table with the Syrian regime in talks that are to be held under international efforts.

It is worth noting that Arab and international countries have specified their position on Syria and are in the path of resolving this issue. The first subject in this regard is support for the Syrian opposition. The second is placing pressure on the Assad regime and taking steps in a path to stop the killings and destructions. The most important factor would be stopping Russian airstrikes against the Syrian opposition and the entire social fabric of the country. The third subject is tracing a political solution, from words to actions, through specifying scheduled objectives in order to launch negotiations on major subjects and determining transition mechanisms from one stage to another. The specified plans must be under the framework of international and regional obligations.

In brief, the Syrian opposition in Riyadh delivered what was expected of it. And various parties of the international community and the region have become committed to specific steps, especially pulling the Iranian regime onto the negotiating table. The Assad regime is completely under the control of the Iranian regime, and Damascus cannot make any decision and all such matters are finalized by Tehran and announced to Assad in Damascus.

Therefore, the only solution for the future of Syria – being the source of ISIS exporting terrorists throughout the globe – is to push the Iranian regime out of Syria. At the Riyadh conference the Iranian regime focused its efforts to bring the entire summit into a complete failure, knowing if those forces become united it will eventually mean Iran evicted from Syria altogether.