Syria's foreign minister says regime willing to sit down with rebels Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem's comments came during a visit to Moscow, where he is meeting with Russian officials to discuss his country's crisis. "We're ready for a dialogue with anyone who's willing for it," Moualem said, "even with those who carry arms. We are confident that reforms will come about, not with the help of bloodshed but through dialogue. Few in the opposition or international community were convinced that Assad has any genuine willingness to negotiate. The political opposition is in disarray, allowing the Assad government to appear as though it is making concessions, knowing that such talks are highly unlikely. Khaled Saleh, a spokesman for the U.S.-backed Syrian Opposition Coalition, dismissed the "empty offer." "Moualem's offer is deceitful, and it seems that he wants to divide up those who are fighting against Assad," Saleh said. It will be more appropriate for Moualem, who is offering dialogue with those carrying weapons, to ask his regime to stop using Scud missiles against those who are not armed. The Syrian Opposition Coalition has pulled out of a Friends of Syria meeting scheduled for Thursday in Rome and from discussions in Washington and Moscow, ostensibly to protest international inaction in halting the bloodshed in Syria. However, the move gives the opposition time to get its house in order after the group's leader, Mouaz al-Khatib, caused deep rifts by offering talks without the precondition that Assad first step down. "We are clear that there should be no negotiations with the Assad regime if Assad is not removed," Fahad al-Masri, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army's joint command, said Monday. Until then, we will fight, and we are sure that Assad won't leave Syria alive. He will be lucky if he has the same end as Gaddafi. He referred to longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, who was killed by rebels in October 2011. "Everyone is playing games, and for the time being there is no serious prospect of negotiations," said Peter Harling, a Syria analyst with the International Crisis Group. The opposition's de facto rejection of Mouaz al-Khatib's initiative by pulling out of talks creates an opportunity for the regime to appear to engage. It also means that the Russians can return to blaming the opposition for stalling, which puts them back in their comfort zone. The Syrian Opposition Coalition on Monday released an eight-point outline for a political solution to the crisis, based on a meeting last week in Cairo. There, attendees stipulated that the coalition's 12-member executive council must all agree on any future offer. The group also insisted that Assad and members of the government's security apparatus and military "responsible for the decisions that have destroyed the country" must be excluded from any political solution to the crisis. The United States sent envoy and former Syrian ambassador Robert Ford to Cairo in an attempt to persuade the coalition to attend the talks in Rome, where Secretary of State John F. Kerry was slated to hold his first strategy session with the group.