Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem reiterated on Saturday the Assad regime's demands to have access to a list of the opposition groups who are to attend the planned Geneva peace talks, state media reports.
The Syrian government has insisted on several occasions that it must being given a list of opposition figures and groups expected to send representatives, which it seemingly regards as a precondition for its participation in the talks which are to take place beginning January 25.
In addition to the list of possible attendants, Syria has requested that Jordan prepare another list, detailing which of the opposition groups are to be considered "terrorist organisations," a term which Assad's regime has used in referring to all such groups.
The Geneva negotiations are part of a UN-backed 18-month plan to put an end to the Syrian civil war, which has been raging since 2011.
Despite having confirmed that his government would take part in the aforementioned negotiations upon meeting with UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura in Damascus, Muallem still refers to obtaining such lists as a "necessity."
"The efforts to find a political solution and the recent decisions of the UN Security Council in this regard are linked with the credibility of counter-terrorism efforts," Muallem was quoted as saying by the SANA news agency.
Following his meeting with De Mistura in Damascus, Muallem vowed that the Syrian government would "continue cooperating with the special envoy... to fight terrorism and move forward with dialogue among Syrians."
The UN envoy has since met with Saudi representatives in Riyadh and will soon be travelling to Iran.
Syrian rebel groups have recently condemned the current peace plan, accusing the international community of pressuring them to "make concessions" and of being "complicit" in the suffering that has befallen the Syrian people.
All previous efforts to end the war in Syria, which has already claimed the lives of over 260,000 people, have failed.
