The opposition arrived late and refused to begin even indirect talks without the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions on the lifting of sieges and protection of civilians.
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“It is not the end or the failure of the talks”.
After shuttling for days between the two sides, he must have found the gap between them still too wide and in need to be somehow bridged before talks can start in earnest.
The nearly five-year-old civil war has killed more than 260,000 people, forced millions from their homes and sucked in a host of regional and global powers.
He told reporters that this is “not a failure of talks” and he is not frustrated or disappointed but will remain “determined and realistic” in the face of challenges.
He also tried to set a new tone, insisting these talks must be “different” from earlier ones that failed in 2014.
The Syrian opposition had demanded that aid be allowed into 18 besieged areas throughout the country and that Syrian and Russian forces halt the bombardment of rebel-held areas ahead of the talks, which officially began Monday. He previously met with a government delegation on Friday.
“This regime that ruined the Geneva negotiations in 2014 is doing it again during this political process”, Hijab added.
“We have been dealing with an ongoing quake for the past four years”, he said.
For the opposition, the Aleppo advances cast a long shadow over the talks.
One commander said opposition-held areas of the divided city were at risk of being encircled entirely by the government and allied militia, and appealed to foreign states that back the rebels to send more weapons.
Aleppo, Syria’s pre-war commercial capital has been divided between loyalists in the west and rebels in the east since fighting erupted in the northern city in mid-2012.
The offensive has led the opposition to accuse Damascus of negotiating in bad faith. We will be waiting for de Mistura’s new steps.
The Syrian army also pressed ahead in southern Syria where it made advances near Deraa city in the town of Atman after securing the town of Sheikh Maskin last month.
He said both sides had expressed concerns about the talks, with the government wanting to address “procedural issues before talking about (the) humanitarian side”. “Who is bombing civilians and starving people to death”.
Meantime, Turkey’s prime minister accused Russian Federation of committing “war crimes” with its support of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.
Syria’s main opposition grouping warned on Thursday that for a future round of UN-brokered peace talks to succeed, the United States must pressure allies of the embattled regime. “Not soon, but now”.
“The level of confidence between both sides is close to zero”, Mr de Mistura said.
The opposition described this delay as unprecedented.
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Al Manar, television channel of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, joined Syria’s army and state media in reporting the breakthrough, which it said came after the army moved in from towns secured in a recent offensive in northern Aleppo province.
