Mr Mistura announced on Monday the formal start of the Syrian peace talks after meeting with the opposition, but Syria’s Bashar al-Jaafari said on Tuesday that the United Nations envoy had realised that conditions were not ripe for indirect “proximity talks”, with government and opposition delegations in separate rooms.
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UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who set a six-month timeframe for the much-anticipated talks that began on January 29, did not invite the Kurdish minority for the intra-Syrian negotiations.
Syrian peace talks in Geneva were delayed after the main opposition group refused to negotiate until government forces ceased their air strikes and blockades.
He said he planned to take up further talks in a new meeting with government representatives on Tuesday, and his first goal is to keep the talks going.
Moscow had previously opposed the participation of Jaish Al Islam and Ahrar Al Sham in the UN-hosted talks between the Syrian regime and opposition in Geneva.
Mohammed Alloush, of the Army of Islam, which is part of the HNC, told reporters in Geneva that the opposition bloc was still discussing whether to meet with de Mistura in the coming days.
More than 250,000 people have died in nearly five years of war in Syria. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has offered no indication he will step aside.
On Monday, though, both the opposition coalition and the U.N. seemed upbeat after a meeting at the U.N.’s Palais des Nations here. “The regime wants to eliminate the opposition”.
“We are here, we are ready to make this a success, we are ready to start negotiations”, High Negotiations Committee spokesman Salim al-Muslat said before the meeting. The blasts were claimed by Islamic State, the extremist group that is running swathes of Syria and Iraq which has launched attacks worldwide, including in Paris in November when 130 people were murdered.
On Wednesday, pro-government fighters continued their offensive north of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, in an attempt to besiege rebel-held neighborhoods. US-made TOW missiles, or guided anti-tank missiles, are the most potent weapon in the rebel arsenal and have been supplied to vetted rebel groups as part of a programme of military support overseen by the Central Intelligence Agency.
The first peace talks since 2014 to end the Syrian civil war are underway in Geneva, Switzerland.
A scheduled meeting between the United Nations (UN) and the major Syrian opposition on Tuesday afternoon was postponed to an as yet unspecified time.
The second point was to determine lists of the names of the opposition figures to hold the indirect dialogue with and the third point was about the role of the other opposition groups present in Geneva, according to the sources, who noted that the delegation awaits answers.
Asaad Al-Zoubi (L), head of the Syrian opposition delegation, arrives with George Sabra, a member of …
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She was referring to a besieged suburb of the capital Damascus that opposition activists say was subjected to intense bombardment on Sunday. The US said its representatives “urged Russian Federation to use its influence with the Assad regime to push for full humanitarian access to all Syrians in need”.
