UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has told all parties present at the Syria peace talks being held in Geneva that several more rounds of negotiations would be needed before any manner of accord is reached.
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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “encouraged that the Syrians. sat together in the same room”, his spokesman in NY said, even if it remains unclear whether the two sides will actually hold face-to-face negotiations.
De Mistura made the announcement on the fourth day of the current talks on Sunday.
Warplanes also carried out six raids on Douma in the eastern suburbs of Damascus, resulting in six deaths, and earlier, an air raid in Hama killed four people from the same family, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The violence comes just a day after an Islamic State-claimed auto bomb killed at least 34 people in the town of al-Bab, which was recently taken back from ISIS by Turkish-backed rebels.
Jihadi Makdissi, a former Syrian foreign ministry spokesman who heads opponents from the “Cairo” platform, gave no sign that a unified delegation could emerge, but said he was coordinating with the HNC. “There is no trust in this regime”, Al Meslet said, “That is why we are really fighting, not only with weapons but with all efforts that we can do, to really finish this crime in Syria”.
The strategic town, just 25 kilometres south of the Turkish border, was the jihadists’ last stronghold in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo.
Three rounds of indirect peace talks on Syria were held in Geneva past year thanks to the mediation efforts of United Nations special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura.
On Wednesday, Mr de Mistura played down expectations for the talks, saying he did not expect any breakthroughs.
“We prefer a ceasefire, a complete ceasefire in all Syria”.
But the Syrian government negotiator Bashar al-Ja’afari may try to avoid specific talk of “political transition”, which the opposition understand to mean the end of Assad’s absolute power. “We will study these papers and provide our answer on them”, Makdissi said.
Alysoufi added that he did not believe the government delegation, led by Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari, wanted to engage in serious political talks.
“Our new meeting and its format will be held in accordance with the document, further negotiations, and the date will be agreed through diplomatic channels, in collaboration with the office of Staffan de Mistura”, Jaafari said.
The ground – both in territory and diplomatically – has shifted since the last UN-sponsored talks broke up in April 2016, and the rebels are in a significantly weaker position.
He also said “Iran is an occupying state in Syria” and “could not be a guarantor state”.
“I ask you to work together”, he urged the delegations.
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“I am here as a sister of two prisoners, we as Syrian families we want to know the fate of our people?”
