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Saudis want full control over Syria peace talks: Pundit

Tuesday, 26 January 2016 7:23 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 26 January 2016 7:29 AM ]

Saudi official Abdulaziz al-Saqr (C) and members of the so-called Syrian opposition talk to media after a conference in Riyadh on December 10, 2015. ©AFP

Press TV conducts an interview with Jim W. Dean, the managing editor of Veterans Today from Atlanta, and Baraa Abdulla Sharaf Shiban, a political commentator from London, to discuss the upcoming Syria peace talks in Geneva.

Dean slams as “ridiculous” calls for the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying such calls come despite the fact that Syria is a sitting United Nations government.

The Saudis are trying to take complete control of the international peace talks on the Syria crisis, adding that Riyadh seeks to draw up the opposition list itself and to prevent the participation of any other groups that it does not favor.

“This will give them a stranglehold on the talks, because they could just say ‘we are going to pick up our marbles and go home and you have no one to deal with,’” he adds.

However, he expresses hope that the peace talks would go ahead with the participation of the groups that really want the negotiations to bear fruit, even if other parties, including Saudi Arabia, refuse to take part in an attempt to derail the process.

He stresses the need for a ceasefire in Syria and a list of true opposition as the initial steps in the political process, saying the Syrian nation should decide its future through a national election.

Shiban, for his part, believes the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is the “root cause” of the crisis in Syria, saying the internationally-brokered talks would yield no results if this issue is not addressed.

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