Syria dissidents meet in Damascus to discuss transition

Some 150 Syrian dissidents are attending a conference in Damascus on Monday to discuss the country's crisis.

It is the first time such an event is taking place since anti-government protests broke out in March.
Some of those attending have spent time in prison in the past for their political activities.
But they do not represent political parties or activists involved in recent protests. Some opposition members cast doubt over the validity of the meeting.
The Syrian authorities are said to have been informed of the meeting and have not blocked it, but there will be no government representation at the event.

The participants says they are not making concessions to the government and they want an end to the violence and killings.
The government is making a show of looking for the middle ground to solve the crisis, but they are also seen to be playing for time, says the BBC's Lina Sinjab in Damascus.
Aref Dalila, a prominent Alawite opponent of the Assad government who spent nearly eight years in prison for criticising state corruption, says there is no chance the government will make use of the meeting as it is known that its participants reject government policies, our correspondent says.
Unease But there has already been unease expressed by some opposition activists, who fear that holding such a meeting while the violence and repression continue could confer legitimacy on the regime, says the BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon.
"The Damascus declaration coalition - this is the main opposition coalition in Syria - have actually come out against this meeting," Malik al-Abdeh, an editor of Barada TV, a Syrian opposition channel, told the BBC World Service's World Today programme.
"The regime is obviously happy for this conference to take place."
"In Syria, there are three or four opposition figures who spent time in jail, who are actually attending this meeting. But apart from that, all the other people I have seen on the list, they are no known to be opposition figures," he added.
"So this certainly is not an opposition conference, this is just a meeting of intellectuals all discussing the future of Syria under, I have to stress this, under the close watchful eye of the Syrian security."
Others have insisted that those taking part must stick to their basic demand, that the regime has to go, and make way for democracy.
The meeting comes three months after pro-democracy protests started, as the authorities in Syria continue with their security crackdown.
BBC