Opposition groups have signalled that they will stay away from UN sponsored peace-talks with Assad regime unless the Syrian government and Russian allies halted air strikes and lifted sieges on towns.
A spokesperson for one of the rebel groups in the opposition High Negotiating Committee (HNV) said it was impossible for the opposition to attend as long as rebel territory were besieged and hit by airstrikes.
The main opposition groups added that they would only attend if they were able to choose their own representatives, reports Reuters.
Abu Ghiath al-Shami, spokesman for Alwiyat Seif al-Sham, one of the groups fighting against Assad's forces in the southwest, said,
“It is impossible to give up any of our demands. If we attend, it's as if we are selling our martyrs.”
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