“They all need to be engaged and accountable together with us in making sure that these are not just another Geneva talks”, he said, referring to two previous Syria peace conferences.
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Staffan de Mistura declared yesterday that indirect negotiations between Assad’s government and the main opposition umbrella group to seek an end to Syria’s brutal civil war, had finally begun in Geneva.
“We agreed – and the government delegation agreed – that if they take part in negotiations, they will do so in a personal capacity”, Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax.
A Western diplomat said that on Sunday de Mistura made proposals to what he called a mistrustful HNC in talks in a Geneva hotel, but that they were still hesitating. Besides, we still do not know who specifically we are to talk with in Geneva. “We must absolutely try to ensure that there is no failure”, he told Swiss television RTS.
The Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian bomber near the border in November after it allegedly violated Turkish airspace, according to Turkish authorities, causing tensions to soar.
“How can you accept to enter a negotiations when you have unprecedented military pressure?”
He said more than 15 government fighters and 20 rebels had been killed in the fighting since Monday. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, speaking to a news briefing in Geneva as Syria peace talks were being held said: “In the case of Syria, we are there to remind everyone that where there are allegations that reach the threshold of war crimes or crimes against humanity that amnesties are not permissible”.
Whether the government’s response to de Mistura will be positive remains to be seen.
“A ceasefire for me is essential”.
“We should take a decision in the coming two days”, Sabra said.
UN Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura, meeting with the Syrian opposition on February 1, 2016.
As food and medical aid heads for a besieged, rebel-held suburb of Damascus, Syrian government forces and their allies are pressing forward in a powerful offensive in northern Syria in an apparent bid to encircle the country’s biggest city, where various rebel groups control many neighborhoods. However, at the moment de Mistura’s talks with the delegation of the opposition have not been confirmed.
Jaafari expressed surprise on behalf of Damascus over the fact that representatives of the Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar-al-Sham extremist groups had been present at the talks between the Syrian opposition members and de Mistura.
That Aleppo is being threatened by government forces is a sign of how Russian airstrikes have turned the tide for Assad’s forces since they began in late September past year. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that monitors both sides of the conflict through activists on the ground, said government troops captured three villages near Aleppo since Monday, opening a key supply route into the city.
Moreover, its chief negotiator, Mohammed Allouche, politburo member of the armed rebel group Jaich al-Islam (Army of Islam), a Salafist-inspired movement that the Damascus regime describes as “terrorist” arrived in Geneva early evening to join the delegation.
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“Our answer will come in two days”, he told Reuters without elaborating.
