...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
wants to bring together the many branches of the war-torn country's armed and political opposition to discuss what to do after the regime's downfall, opposition sources said Thursday.
The Sunni-ruled kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a main backer of forces fighting to topple Syria's
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
, while its Shiite-dominated rival Iran backs him.
"In mid-June, Saudi leaders want to unite all -- or a vast majority -- of Syrian political and military opponents to prepare" for the period after Assad, said Haytham Manna, a veteran opposition figure.
This meeting would "not include the jihadists of (Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate) Al-Nusra Front and of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group," he told AFP by telephone.
Manna heads the "Cairo conference," a gathering of opposition figures living in Syria and abroad.
He said Saudi Arabia had tentatively organised its pan-opposition meeting for May 3, but was forced to abandon the idea due to differences among opposition groups.
But closer ties between Saudi Arabia, Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
and
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
-- previously competing for influence over Syria's rebels -- had led to a string of recent victories for opposition fighters, said Manna.
A representative from the opposition National Coalition, which is officially recognised by much of the international community, told AFP a date was yet to be set for the conference.
"All of the political and military opposition, inside and outside Syria, would take part," the representative said.
"The objective would be to find common points among the different opposition groups and to come up with a road map for the transitional period after Assad's fall," added the official.
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister told AFP he had no information on the topic. (