PARIS: Top US diplomat John Kerry meets his Russian counterpart Monday after trying to entice Syrian rebels into Geneva peace talks by vowing to exclude the Moscow-backed Damascus regime from any future transition government.
Kerry said he was "confident" the opposition would attend the upcoming talks in Switzerland, speaking after a meeting in Paris Sunday of the "Friends of Syria" group of mainly Western and Gulf countries opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The US Secretary of State met National Coalition leader Ahmad Jarba, whose grouping includes the main opposition movement in exile, and was due to hold further talks with him on Monday.
"I am confident that he and others will be in Geneva. I am counting on both parties to come together," he said.
Jarba was equally upbeat, saying a "milestone" had been passed in diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, which is believed to have killed at least 130,000 people in nearly three years.
In a statement, the 11-nation Friends of Syria group said that once a transitional government is established "Assad and his close associates with blood on their hands will have no role in Syria".
The so-called "Geneva II" talks due to start on January 22 have been organised in an attempt to revive the idea of moving to a transitional government including figures from the current regime and the opposition.
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