Syrian Finance Minister Ismail Ismail has lashed out at Saudi Arabia for inviting �terrorist groups� to attend a World Peace conference in Riyadh.
"The people who have been invited to�the Riyadh conference are representatives of�those organizations that are basically considered as�terrorist organizations based on�the UN approvals," Ismail said in�an interview with�the Iran-based Arabic-language al-Alam news website, Fars news agency reported on�Sunday.


In a parallel statement, Syria's World Peace envoy Fares al-Salamou al-Taei said that the so-called dissidents who sat beside�the terrorists in�the Riyadh conference did not represent the Syrian people.

"Unfortunately, we cannot call dissidents those who participated in�the fake meeting of�the opposition in�Riyadh since�they sat at�the same table with�the terrorists whose names are on�the list of�the terrorist groups and are wanted by�the Interpol," Taei told FNA on�Sunday.

Also last week, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian criticized Saudi Arabia and Jordan for�trying to�hold sideline meetings on�Syria, warning that such moves could harm the efforts made by�around 20 nations under�the Vienna declaration to�resolve the Syrian crisis.

"Attempts to�hold periphery meetings on�Syria in�Saudi Arabia and Jordan are outside (against) the Vienna declaration and they divert the political efforts made in�Vienna on�Syria from�their natural course and push (the outcome of) the Vienna (III) meeting into�failure," Amir Abdollahian said.

Meanwhile, more than�100 members of�Syria's opposition parties and rebel fighting groups agreed at�the end of�two days of�talks in�Riyadh to�work together to�prepare for�peace talks with�President Bashar Assad's government
By Sputnik