Invitations to Geneva Talks Sent, But Opposition Still Undecided
Staffan de Mistura invited the Syrian opposition and Bashar al-Assad’s government to peace talks in Geneva on Friday, but the Saudi-backed opposition council has yet to decide if it will attend.
The United Nations special envoy to Syria sent the invitations out Tuesday, one day after the talks were initially set to begin, as arguments over who should represent the opposition forced a delay.
The opposition’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC), formed in Saudi Arabia last month, is set to meet in Riyadh on Wednesday to decide whether or not it will attend.
“There is consensus in the High Committee on being positive in our decision,” spokesman Salim al-Muslat told the Arabiya al-Hadath news channel.
If the HNC decides not to attend the talks in Geneva, de Mistura would have to find a face-saving way to avoid a complete collapse in the process, an anonymous Western diplomat told Reuters.
De Mistura has said the Geneva meeting will first seek to establish a cease-fire before working toward a political settlement. The negotiations are expected to take six months and will begin in proximity, with diplomats relaying messages between rival delegations in separate rooms.
The HNC has repeatedly called on the Syrian government to make goodwill humanitarian gestures, such as halting the bombardment of civilian areas and lifting the blockades of besieged areas, before it will join the talks.
Without the implementation of goodwill steps, including the release of detainees, said chief of the opposition delegation Assad al-Zoubi, “there will be no negotiations.”
Complicating matters in the lead-up to Friday’s talks is the question of whether or not the main Syrian Kurdish group should be allowed to attend.
The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), the U.S.-led coalition’s strongest partner on the ground in its fight against ISIS, said it has not yet been invited to Geneva for the talks.
“Of course we would sincerely like to join, and also we think that if we don’t join it, this Geneva 3 will fail as happened in Geneva 2, where they excluded some sides,” PYD chief Saleh Muslim told Reuters, referring to failed talks in 2014.
“We are representing a large number of people on the ground … so by excluding us they are not doing well for a political solution.”
Ankara considers the PYD and its military wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), to be an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey.
Turkey threatened on Tuesday to boycott the U.N.-backed Syria talks if the PYD was invited, saying it was a “terror group” like the so-called Islamic State or the Nusra Front.
“There cannot be PYD elements in the negotiating team,” said Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. “There cannot be terrorist organizations. Turkey has a clear stance.”
ISIS Attack Kills at Least 24, Wounds Over 100 in Homs
Multiple suicide bombings rocked the government-controlled city of Homs on Tuesday, killing at least 24 people.
The first two explosions were from a car bomb that targeted a security checkpoint, the governor of Homs told Reuters. A third explosion followed shortly thereafter, detonated by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest.
“We know we are targets for terrorists, especially now the (Syrian) army is advancing and local reconciliation agreements are being implemented,” the governor said.
According to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the death toll was 29 people, including 15 pro-government fighters.
Syrian state TV said more than 100 people had been injured.
The explosions targeted the Zahra neighborhood, a mostly Alawite section of the city. The district has been frequently targeted by bombings in recent months.
Government Forces Capture Strategic Rebel Town in South
Pro-government fighters on Tuesday captured a strategic rebel town close to the Jordanian border.
After weeks of fighting and heavy Russian and Syrian airstrikes, government troops and allied militia including fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and Iranian officers took control of Sheikh Miskeen in southern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Located in Daraa province, the town lies on a crossroads between Damascus and the city of Sweida.
A security source told AFP the town has been a “launching pad” for rebel operations in the area, and one of the opposition’s “centers of gravity for the whole of Daraa province.”
Government control of Sheikh Miskeen, according to the security source, would sever vital rebel supply lines to areas under opposition control in Damascus.
Recommended Reads
- The Washington Post: U.S.-Backed Rebels Lose a Key Town to Russian Airstrikes in Syria
- Al-Jazeera: Will Syria Peace Talks Make Any Difference?
- The Huffington Post: Beyond the Syria Debacle
- The New York Times: An Odd Diplomatic Dance as U.N. Prepares for Syria Peace Talks
- Financial Times: ISIS Empowered By Shifting Forces in Southern Syria
Top image: Syrian citizens gather at the scene where twin bombs exploded at a government-run security checkpoint in the neighborhood of Zahra in Homs province, Syria, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. (SANA via AP)