Dialogue is the only way for Syria to end its ongoing domestic conflict, a senior official with the Syrian opposition said Thursday.

"Dialogue is necessary because it is the only way out of the crisis and we need to make it happen now," Qadri Jamil, a representative of the National Front for Change and Liberation, told reporters.

"Those who are against a peaceful settlement of the conflict and contributed to the continuing bloodshed and destruction of Syria are not our friends," he was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

It was paramount to exclude extremists from the negotiating process, Jamil said, accusing the so-called "Friends of Syria" group of hindering Syrians from solving their problems on their own.

The opposition also does not see the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad as a condition for the dialogue, he added.

On Tuesday, the United States recognized the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, a new coalition formed by opposition outside of Syria late last month, as a lawful representative of the Syrian people.

Russia said the U.S. move contradicted an agreement in the Geneva Communique on starting an all-Syrian dialogue between government and opposition representatives.

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