Ahmed al-Asrawi, member of the National Coordination Committee of the High Negotiation Committee (HNC), told North Press that the meeting in Geneva was held to unify the position of the opposition forces represented by the committee in regards to recent developments in Syria.

Earlier Saturday, the committee started its work in Geneva, for the first time since 2019, with several of the committee’s bodies in attendance.

However, observers say that the meeting is meant to solve differences among the committee’s bodies.

Al-Asrawi added that no issues would be tackled during the committee meeting with representatives of the influential players in the Syrian issue, but that it “is held to extend a message, bearing our stances as Syrians, regarding the political process in Syria.”

A statement is expected to be published after the meeting, clarifying the opposition stance regarding the recent political developments in Syria, the most prominent of which is the Middle East’s outreach to Syria.

This is taking place following the readmission of the Syrian government to the Arab League on May 7 and the accelerating pace of normalization efforts by Arab governments with the Syrian president.

On May 19, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad officially joined the 32nd session of the Arab Summit of the Arab League, hosted in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for the first time after 12 years of war.

The Syrian opposition member noted that “no representative rejected the participation in the meeting, and some others could not attend due to logistical issues” stressing that the meeting is exclusively for the HNC “and will not be attended by any other parties.”

Earlier on Saturday, Riyad Dirar, co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political wing of northeast Syria’s Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), denied that the SDC would participate in the HNC meeting in Geneva.

Social media channels had publicized the news that the SDC had been invited to the meeting.

Dirar told North Press this issue was not discussed with the SDC.

Al-Asrawi added, “HNC met on Friday with Pedersen, and a meeting may be held with some representatives of some countries interested in the Syrian issue,” but did not reveal the countries in question.