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Geneva 2 conf. will be held on Dec. 12

15 November 2013 00:50 (UTC +04:00)

The Al-Watan reported the date on Thursday. It cited French diplomats as saying that US Secretary of State John Kerry had told his French counterpart Laurent Fabius that UN chief Ban Ki-moon would announce the date on November 25.

The daily said that a Syrian government source refused to confirm the report and that an adviser to the foreign-backed opposition, the so-called Syrian National Coalition (SNC), said that the date for the conference was not finalized.

The international community has been trying for months to convene the conference to resolve the conflict in Syria. The date of the event has changed many times as the foreign-backed opposition remains divided over attending the talks.

The Syrian government has agreed to take part in the talks, but has rejected preconditions or any insistence on the departure of President Assad.

Earlier this week, the opposition said it would attend the talks under certain conditions such as departure of President Assad, release of more political prisoners and receiving further aid.

Syria's Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said on Thursday that the opposition was dreaming if it thought President Assad would step down to get it to attend the conference.

"Those who dream they're going to Geneva to be given the keys to Damascus are stupid people without any political weight who understand nothing about politics and live in cloud cuckoo land," Zohbi said.

The Geneva 2 initiative was proposed by Russia and the United States on May 7.