Moaz al-Khatib, President of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, was speaking at the Munich Security Conference.

 

　　"The Syrian opposition is willing to sit down for talks with President Bashar Assad's regime to ease the pain of the Syrian people. We are ready to sit at the negotiation table with this regime. But the regime should make its own gesture by releasing 160,000 detainees."

 

　　The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces is an umbrella group designed to represent most of the Syrian opposition groups.

 

　　Al-Khatib was chosen in November to head the coalition.

 

　　His comments marked a clear departure from the long-standing opposition line, which has been categorical refusal to talk to the government.

 

　　His statement has provoked an outcry, and al-Khatib back-peddled, saying he was just expressing his own opinion.

 

　　The US, its Western allies and most Syrian opposition groups insist Assad must step down first, a position that Russia has strongly opposed.

 

　　Despite the controversy, analysts say Al-Khatib's comments marked the first opening for the possibility of dialogue to end a nearly two-year-long conflict that the UN says has killed more than 60,000 people.