(reuters) -- Hijab, the head of the Syrian opposition's High Negotiations Committee (HNC) resigned on Monday, nearly two years after he was picked to chair the Saudi-backed umbrella group that brings together the armed and political opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.

"The retreat of radically minded opposition figures from playing the main role will make it possible to unite this motley opposition - internal and external - on a more reasonable, realistic and constructive platform," Russia's Rossiya 24 state television showed Lavrov saying at a news briefing.