The intra-Syrian talks on crisis settlement have been postponed until February 25, UN Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura told reporters on Wednesday after a meeting with Syria opposition’s High Negotiations Committee envoys in Geneva.
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De Mistura acknowledged on Tuesday that a collapse of the Geneva talks was always possible.
The opposition described this delay as unprecedented. Rebels said the breakthrough came after hundreds of raids by Russian warplanes.
The aid delivery appears to be a confidence-building gesture on the part of the government after U.N.-mediated indirect peace talks got off to a rocky start in Geneva this week.
Russian Federation considers two major rebel factions, the Army of Islam and Ahrar Al-Sham, as terrorist organizations, along with Islamic State and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. “And I don’t see why these air strikes should be stopped”, he said at a news conference yesterday in Oman’s capital, Muscat.
“This is not the end”, de Mistura said, “and it is not the failure of the talks”.
The HNC was insisting on immediate steps including humanitarian aid getting through to besieged cities, a halt to the bombardment of civilians and the release of prisoners.
He said both sides had expressed concerns about the talks, with the government wanting to address “procedural issues before talking about (the) humanitarian side”.
“A ceasefire for me is essential”.
“I’m not frustrated I’m not disappointed”, de Mistura said of the pause.
De Mistura further announced that he will be probably travelling to London Thursday for this year’s Syria donor conference.
Top diplomats from countries involved in trying to resolve the conflict are also set to meet again on February 11, but tensions inside the group remain strong.
“I don’t see why these air strikes should be stopped”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, adding they were targeting al Qaeda-linked rebels.
That’s what unfolded Wednesday north of Aleppo, where Syrian state media and a monitoring group reported that Syrian government forces gained strategic ground with the help of Russian air support.
The Aleppo rebels’ main supply line to Turkey was severed on Wednesday when regime troops broke an opposition siege of two Shiite towns, Nubol and Zahraa, on the route to the border.
Aleppo city has been divided between rebel control in the east and government control in the west since shortly after fighting there began in mid-2012.
Syrian TV said the siege of Nubul and Zahra was broken by the army and pro-government militias known as the Popular Defense Committees.
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Upon arrival at the talks, HNC member Farah Atassi said that the delegation was not coming to negotiate with Assad, but instead to speak with United Nations officials.
