President Barack Obama led calls Tuesday for Turkey and Russia to end their dispute over the downing of a Russian fighter jet and focus instead on ISIS, the real enemy.
Obama said he also was sure that Russia would soon change tack in Syria, backing a political solution to the bloody conflict after years supporting longtime ally President Bashar Assad, who Washington insists must step down.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has issued invitations to 65 Syrian opposition figures to attend a conference in Riyadh to try to unify their positions ahead of proposed Syrian peace talks, Saudi newspapers reported Tuesday.
Asharq al-Awsat and Al-Hayat said no date has yet been set for the Riyadh meeting, but quoted unnamed sources as saying it could take place next week.
Asharq al-Awsat quoted Ahmed Ramadan, a member of the Syrian National Coalition opposition group, as saying that the Saudi Foreign Ministry had “invited 65 figures to attend the conference in Riyadh.”
He said 20 members of the coalition, which is based outside Syria, had been invited, along with seven from the National Coordination Body, an internal opposition group.
Another 10 to 15 places were allocated to rebel leaders and 20 to 25 to independents, business leaders and religious figures, the paper quoted Ramadan as saying.