Syrian opposition 'ready to negotiate' with Assad regime on all issues

The head of the Syrian Higher Negotiation Commission, Badr Jamous, said on Wednesday that the opposition is "ready to negotiate" with Damascus on all files.

Jamous told Russian outlet Sputnik that the Syrian opposition platform was ready to engage with the Syrian regime on the basis of UN resolution 2254, which specifies a political solution to the Syrian conflict.

The Commission's statement came as Arab states have increasingly normalised relations with the Syrian regime, ending 12 years of regional isolation.

Saudi Arabia is leading the charge on Damascus's diplomatic reintegration, ensuring that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was in attendance at the Arab League conference on 19 May.

The increasing acceptance of the Syrian regime has prompted questions about the role that the Syrian opposition will play moving forward if it loses the support of previous international backers, such as Saudi Arabia.

"The National Coalition must always emphasise its commitment to UN resolutions, and [any] possible concessions are those that are compatible with those resolutions," Hazem Nahar, a Syrian political writer and editor-in-chief of Rowaq Maysaloon Magazine, told The New Arab.

Many of the Commission's members are located between Ankara and Riyadh, both states that have expressed their willingness to normalise with the Assad regime.

Their dependence on these backers has raised questions about their independence and capacity to negotiate on behalf of the Syrian people.

"The Syrian National Coalition has turned into a card for states to play with. Its lack of independence has alienated Syrians, they do not see it as their representative, but of Turkey's," Nahar explained.

Still, despite the 180 degree change in regional posture towards the Assad regime, the Syrian opposition and countries like the US have not changed their tone on the way to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

"The beginning of the so-called normalisation attempts with the regime … did not and will not affect the position of the Syrian opposition represented by the Commission," Ahmad al-A'srawi, a member of the opposition group of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, told TNA.

Al-A'srawi said that he did not believe that the Syrian opposition should not change any of its negotiating positions, despite the change in regional dynamics.

"The opposition's main demand is national democratic change and political transition based on the reference of the UN … especially resolution 2254, as a roadmap for political negotiation process," he added.