Beirut has now joined the list of cities where meetings between the Syrian government and opposition have taken place. In an effort to find a political solution out of the Syrian predicament, the Norwegian government is sponsoring an intra-Syrian dialogue in Lebanon under the supervision of Reverend Dr. Riad Jarjour. Will they remain low-level meetings or will we witness a ‘Beirut I’ conference on Syria?
Beirut joined other Arab, regional and international cities, such as Cairo and Moscow, as the site of meetings between representatives of the Syrian regime and of the opposition to discuss Syria’s future.
Al-Akhbar discovered that secret meetings were held in the Lebanese capital — under official Norwegian sponsorship — that included loyalist and opposition Syrian figures. Sources said that among those figures are clerics, intellectuals and politicians close to the regime and the former head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, Moaz al-Khatib. They added that these figures included individuals living in and outside Syria.