Assad Government and Western-backed Rebel Group Say Yes to Peace Conference

As potential parties to the planned peace conference on Syria scheduled to be held on January 22nd continue to weigh-in, it is becoming apparent that not all significant players will be in attendance. On Wednesday, the Assad regime said it will attend, but warned that it will not be in Geneva to hand-over its power to anyone. President Assad’s stepping down has been set as a red-line for opposition groups to participate, although the Western-backed National Coalition dropped its demands for preconditions and said it will attend. As for the armed groups doing the fighting, the Islamist organizations linked to Al-Qa’ida are not going to Geneva. Syrian officials said that President Assad will likely run for re-election in mid-2014. Assad phoned Iranian President Rohani on Wednesday and praised his achievement with the nuclear deal, telling his counterpart that the agreement will impact in Syria as well.