Syria-based opposition chooses representatives for talks with Damascus

Domestically-based Syrian opposition handed the office of the UN envoy to Syria a list of 22 names chosen to represent it in the upcoming dialogue with the Syrian government, an opposition figure told Xinhua on Tuesday.

The 22 names represent 17 opposition groups in Syria and their name list was handed on Monday to the office of UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, according to Maher Murhej, head of the Syrian Youth Party.

Murhej said that Mistura is going to choose ten names of the list to take part in the dialogue.

The Syrian opposition is largely divided between those who are based in Syria and others in exile. The home-based opposition wants a political transition in Syria, while the broad-based opposition refuse any role of President Bashar al-Assad in the transitional period of Syria.

Last week, Syria's main political and armed opposition groups agreed at unprecedented talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to negotiate with al-Assad's government, but also insisted that he step down at the start of any political transition.

"The participants are ready to negotiate with representatives of the Syrian regime... within a specific timeframe that would be agreed on with the United Nations," participants said in a statement.

Last month, international powers agreed during a meeting in Vienna on the need to hold dialogue between the Syrian government and oppositions.

Now both parties are planned to hold talks next month in an attempt to broker a deal that will end a five-year-long bloody civil war. Still, it wasn't clear whether the oppositions can be united in one delegation or not.