Sputnik News- Saudi Arabia attempted to bribe parliamentarians in order to persuade them to oppose the Syrian government, an MP tells Sputnik.
Mohammed Kheir Jasim al-Nadir said that while some Syrian leaders have indeed taken bribes from�Saudi Arabia and stayed in�the country, he refused the offer and went to�serve Syria instead.

"Saudi Arabia offered us money to�break away from�Assad and oppose the Syrian government. We were offered it (the bribe) at�the house of�the Syrian ambassador to�Riyadh Mahdi Dakhlallah," al-Nadir said.

"They tempted us with�houses and money. They gave us a blank check which could be filled out�with any sum, if we announced a U-turn. But, as�they say, a person who is good does the right thing for�their country, for�their people. Nobody can be separated from�their people, nobody can abandon their homeland. We are with�Syria, with�our land, with�the valiant Syrian army."

"Unfortunately, some Syrian leaders left for�Saudi Arabia because of�money. I had a Saudi passport, but�I left everything and went to�Syria," al-Nadir said.

Earlier this week representatives of�the Syrian government and opposition factions meet in�Astana for�talks brokered by�Moscow, Ankara and Tehran, following�a ceasefire in�the crisis-torn country endorsed by�the UN Security Council on�December 31, 2016.

As the talks ended on�Tuesday, Syrian government and opposition representatives signed a declaration on�a ceasefire monitoring mechanism to�uphold the nationwide ceasefire agreement.

Russia, Iran and Turkey also decided to�establish a trilateral mechanism to�monitor the ceasefire in�Syria as�result of�the Astana talks, which are to�be followed by�a UN-mediated meeting in�Geneva expected to�take place on�February 8.