Inside Story

Can Syria’s opposition do a deal with the government?

Some armed and political opposition groups agree to talks with Syrian government, while others are not included.

About 100 delegates from a spectrum of armed and political opposition groups have agreed on how they want to end the civil war in Syria.

Following talks in Saudi Arabia, they’ll be negotiating with the Syrian government next month – but insist President Bashar al-Assad must leave before a transition starts.

Some of the biggest groups controlling territory in Syria – al-Nusra Front, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and the Kurds – will not be included in next month’s talks.

Not all the groups who will be involved make natural allies with world powers.

So, can this opposition agreement succeed after previous failures? And what hope is there for January’s talks with the Syrian government?

 

Presenter: Martine Dennis 

Guests

Marwan Kabalan – Associate analyst at the Doha Institute Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies

Oubai Shahbandar – Managing director of Orient Media

James Denselow – Research associate at the Foreign Policy Centre.