'..The meeting in Riyadh is important symbolically: It was the first time that such a broad spectrum of opposition representatives met and agreed on one single, political vision. There weren't many people even six months ago who would have thought this was possible.'<blockquote>'
Lister: Most Syrians would answer that if the West cooperates with Assad, it would play into conspiracy theories -- into the Jihadist narrative that the West doesn't care about the killing and repression of Sunni Muslims around the world. That they will always choose the easy option and side with the devil. Also, it's a simple reality that the Assad regime has indirectly aided the growth of IS since the beginning of the revolution. The regime is also still buying IS oil from across Syria. So if the West was to turn around from saying we support the revolution's ideals to suddenly working with Assad, it would destroy its credibility in Syria and create an awful lot more terrorism than there already is.
SPIEGEL: Toward the end of 2015, there were several conferences for different groups of self-proclaimed representatives of the Syrian opposition. What did they achieve?
Lister: The complexity of Syria is shown by the fact that we've had three opposition conferences. The opposition that is acceptable to the Assad regime met in Damascus, the Kurdish-coordinated opposition met in the northeast of the country, and what would be more generally called a broad spectrum of the opposition was assembled in Riyadh. The meeting in Riyadh is important symbolically: It was the first time that such a broad spectrum of opposition representatives met and agreed on one single, political vision. There weren't many people even six months ago who would have thought this was possible.
..
Lister: ..The Vienna process is a great step forward. It's the first time all the major stakeholders have sat around a table and tried to agree on a path forward. But I think what has been highlighted is that there are still significant differences, such as: What is the fate of Bashar al-Assad? I fear that we may be going down the road whereby an extension of Assad's role in power during a prolonged transition is becoming the favored option among Western governments, because it's the easiest way of making sure that Russia and Iran agree to what is put on the table. If that is the result of the big multinational political process, I think the vast majority of the Syrian opposition will drop out of it, and then we are back to step one.'
- Der Spiegel,
Terror Expert Charles Lister: 'Islamic State Is a Convenient Obsession', January 06, 2016</blockquote>
Context<blockquote>
Bashar al-Assad’s crimes against humanity - '..Syrian officials should be tried for crimes against humanity.''It’s hard to overstate how hamstrung the Islamic State will be by its radicalism .. As it stagnates or slowly shrinks..''..a realistic concept of what is achievable and in what time frame.' (Global peace in the 24th century)</blockquote>