MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The head of the Syrian opposition's High Negotiations Committee Riad Hijab has arrived in Geneva, Switzerland for intra-Syrian negotiations, the committee said Wednesday.
"Head of the High Negotiations Committee Dr. Riad Hijab has arrived for talks in Geneva," the committee said on Twitter.
Earlier, Mohamed Alloush, a member of the Jaish al-Islam group, which gained notoriety for repeatedly shelling Damascus and its suburbs with mortar rounds and rockets, arrived in Geneva as the chief negotiator for the High Negotiations Committee, the Saudi-backed alliance of Syrian opposition groups.
The highly-anticipated talks on Syrian reconciliation mediated by the United Nations began in Geneva on January 29 in line with the December UN Security Council's resolution on Syrian settlement, that ruled to bring the entire spectrum of political groups in the crisis-torn country to the negotiating table.
Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with the army loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting several opposition factions and militant organizations, including the Islamic State group, banned in Russia and a number of other countries.
