The Syrian opposition’s bargaining hand has been weakened on the battlefield, largely due to the strong military support given to Assad by Russian Federation, but also due to attacks by the al-Nusra Front, an Islamist group not party to the peace talks.
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Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Saturday: “I would emphasise that people see the future of Syria without Bashar al-Assad”.
The Moscow Group is tolerated by Damascus and has not insisted on Assad’s departure as a pre-condition for setting up a transitional government, which is an unequivocal demand of the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC).
“I don’t think there is a basis yet for a political agreement”, said Andrew Tabler, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“The Syrian Kurds are an important component of the Syrian people…so betting on creating any kind of divisions among the Syrians will be a total failure”, he said.
On Tuesday, de Mistura said that he received the eight-point proposal on Syrian settlement from the government delegation, and was receiving similar documents from the opposition.
Bashar Ja’afari told reporters after the meeting with Staffan de Mistura as the talks resumed on Monday in Switzerland that the government delegation “submitted ideas and views” for a political solution to the crisis.
“We are not against direct talks, but you know de Mistura chose to start with indirect talks”, Muslat said.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Monday that should the Russian military withdrawal from Syrian territory materializes, it would put pressure on Assad and force him to take the Geneva talks seriously, according to Reuters.
Western governments voiced hopes the move – which continued Wednesday as more Russian planes pulled out of their air base in Syria – could boost the talks by pressuring Assad.
“The rule of the game will be inclusiveness”, de Mistura said.
Following the meeting with the United Nations envoy, Jaafari, flanked by advisors and government officials, described the new talks to journalists as “positive and constructive”.
Russian sorties have been reduced by two-thirds, Peskov said Tuesday.
According to the report, entitled No Place for Children, some 8.4 million children more than 80 per cent of Syrias child population are now affected by the conflict, either inside the country or as refugees in neighbouring countries.
Under the cessation of hostilities, fresh humanitarian aid has reached areas hit by recent fighting.
That, in turn, would further undermine the bargaining power of the opposition delegation taking part in the Geneva talks.
Hopes for a breakthrough at the talks, however, appeared remote with the sides locked in a bitter dispute over Assad’s future.
In Geneva, Salem al-Muslet, the HNC’s chief spokesman, told reporters the Russian withdrawal was “a positive step which will help to move forward the negotiations”.
“We did enter into substantive discussion today (with Syrian regime)”.
Repeating his line that there is no “plan B” – other than a return to war – De Mistura asked to hear from all sides of the conflict but said he would have no hesitation in calling in the big powers, led by the United States and Russian Federation, if the talks get bogged down.
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He did not say if Kurdish leaders would be involved in the negotiations for the first time, the news agency reported.
