Former opposition head and moderate cleric Moaz al-Khatib has resigned from the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee (HNC) over discords related to reforms inside the key opposition group, sources said.
Al-Khatib who was the first head of the Syrian National Coalition in 2012, said in his resignation letter on Saturday that the reform process inside the committee had been blocked what gave a chance to the U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura to waste more time and to follow policy of distraction.
Hussam al-Hafez, head of the legal committee in HNC, also has withdrawn without revealing the reason behind.
Sources said al-Khatib’s quit is not retalted to Qatar-Gulf crisis although the deep influence of Doha and Riyadh inside the Syrian opposition institutions.
HNC was founded in December 2015 at a conference held in Riyadh to represent the Syrian opposition in the Geneva peace talks. It is led by Riyad Hijab, who was Prime Minister of Syria from June to August 2012
