Summary "Those who want a political solution would not do this," said Aziz
DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syrian authorities on Wednesday arrested two prominent members of the domestic opposition as they travelled to Riyadh to meet other regime opponents, a colleague said.
Ahmad al-Asrawi and Munir al-Bitar, two members of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCCDC), were stopped at Syria s border with Lebanon, said the body s secretary general, Yahya Aziz.
Both Asrawi and Bitar were headed to Saudi Arabia to join fellow members of the opposition s "supreme committee for negotiations," Aziz told AFP.
The "supreme committee" is a 33-member group formed earlier this month at a landmark meeting of Syria s armed and political opposition in Riyadh.
The committee is set to choose at least part of an opposition delegation for peace talks with President Bashar al-Assad s government next month.
"Syrian authorities today arrested our two colleagues Ahmad al-Asrawi and Munir al-Bitar at the Syrian-Lebanese border point as they were heading to the supreme committee meeting in Riyadh," Aziz said.
He said they were taken "to an unknown location".
"Those who want a political solution would not do this," he said.
The NCCDC said in a statement that the arrest contradicted "international efforts to reach a just political solution" to the conflict in Syria.
It demanded that Asrawi and Bitar be released and said Syrian authorities "were responsible for their safety".
