A top Russian diplomat called on the U.S.to prod Syria’s main opposition group to show a willingness to compromise at peace talks with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
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Why would there even be any hint of talks from Jaysh al-Islam with the Syrian delegation?
Bashar Ja’afari, the Syrian U.N. ambassador leading the government delegation, on Friday urged the adoption of these principles, which his team presented to Mr.de Mistura earlier in the week.
Canada has been providing assistance to three Syrian women inside the talks as part of the High Negotiations Committee, the umbrella group of the anti-Assad delegation.
United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura has been hosting separate meetings with government and opposition delegates – including Alloush – since the “proximity talks” resumed Monday.
In an apparent warning to Turkey, Saudi Arabia and others who had talked about the possibility of sending troops into Syria, Putin also emphasized that the Russian military will keep all its air defense missile systems, including the powerful S-400s, at its air base in Syria.
“We will not engage with this terrorist in direct talks, with this terrorist in particular, and so there won’t be any direct talks unless this terrorist apologises and also shaves off his beard”, Ja’afari said.
“I will be travelling next week to Moscow to meet with President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in order to discuss how we can effectively move the political process forward and try to take advantage of this moment”.
But he said he had not yet received a detailed plan from the government.
Noting that next week would be the last week of the second round of Syrian talks, De Mistura said they would be aiming at “building a minimum common platform of not only principles but points that could lead to a better understanding in what direction we will be going for the political transition”, which, he said, would be the main focus of the next meeting in April.
He says the Syrian army is close to taking control of the city from the Islamic State group.
“The Russians withdrew for one reason, and it is because while they were backing the regime, the regime was unable to hold onto the territories that it took over”, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Syrians want people who care about them to represent them here.
But the HNC has made the departure of Assad an unalterable demand, while Damascus has termed any talk of the president’s removal “a red line”.
“While we’ve seen no Russian air strikes in the northern areas of Syria this week, it appears the Russians have conducted some air strikes after all in southern Syria in the vicinity of Palmyra in support of the Syrian regime”, US Central Command spokesman Colonel Patrick Ryder told AFP.
Russian Federation intervened militarily in the Syrian civil war on September 30 at Assad’s request, deploying about 50 combat aircraft.
“No walk outs, no excessive rhetoric, no breakdowns in spite of the fact that I am still obviously detecting large distances”, he noted.
He said Syrian refugees would eventually return home, once the government stops bombing and killing civilians.
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Putin said Russian Federation had largely fulfilled its objectives in a campaign which has so far cost Russian Federation $700-$800 million according to a Reuters estimate, an additional financial burden at a time of low oil prices.
