Syria will send delegates to a Geneva peace conference under President Bashar al-Assad's orders, but his grip over the war-torn country will not be under discussion, an official said today.
The announcement comes a day after the opposition insisted Assad must not have a role in a future transition, echoing repeated calls by Western powers for the president to step down.
The January 22 peace conference dubbed Geneva 2 is aimed at ending the nearly three-year-old civil war, a bloody stalemate which has killed an estimated 120,000 people and driven millions from their homes.
"Syria announces the participation of an official delegation under the orders of (Assad) and the demands of the Syrian people, with the top priority eliminating terrorism," a foreign ministry source said, quoted by the official SANA news agency.
The source also said the delegation was not going to Geneva to hand over power, and that the condition stipulated by Syria's opposition and the West that Assad must not have a role in the country's future was out of the question.
"The official Syrian delegation will not go to Geneva to hand over power, but to take part (in talks) along with those who are committed to furthering the interests of the Syrian people and who support a political solution for Syria's future," the source said.
"Our people will not allow anyone to steal their right to choose their future and their leaders, and what is key about Geneva is to assert the Syrians' rights, and not of those who are spilling the people's blood."
The source criticised "the French, British and other foreign ministries as well as their agents in the Arab world who have insisted that there can be no place for President Assad in the transitional period.
"The ministry reminds them that the age of colonialism is over, and they need to wake up... Otherwise it will be useless for them to attend Geneva 2."
Yesterday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the peace talks would take place in the Swiss city without the presence of Assad or his radical opponents.
His remarks came as the opposition National Coalition, an umbrella group increasingly at odds with rebels on the ground, insisted Assad must go, casting doubt on whether a compromise can be found.
The Coalition affirmed its "absolute rejection of Assad or any of the criminals responsible for killing the Syrian people playing any role in a transitional body... Or in Syria's political future".
But while the Coalition enjoys Western support, it is unclear how much control it has over the hundreds of rebel groups fighting on the ground.
