Saudi Arabia to host conference to unite Syrian opposition

Saudi Arabia will host a conference in mid-December aimed at unifying the Syrian opposition, Saudi-owned television station Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath said on Thursday.

The conference comes after an international agreement to launch talks between government and opposition by January 1st.

A Saudi government official said the conference was expected to take place on December 15th.

International talks were held in Vienna last week in which countries involved, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, laid out a plan including formal talks between the government and opposition by January 1st.

Diplomatic sources said after those talks that Saudi Arabia, which backs Syria’s insurgents seeking to topple Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, would hold a conference to unite the political opposition there.

It was not immediately clear who will attend the conference. – (Reuters)