‘Substantive’ Peace Talks to Begin in Days
Although negotiations between the Syrian government and the opposition are formally set to resume Wednesday, there most likely won’t be any “substantive” dialogue for another few days, the Associated Press reports.
United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura said he would begin holding “substantive” peace talks between government officials and representatives of the opposition no later than next Monday, as preparations for the talks began in Geneva on Wednesday.
The resumption of peace talks comes after the implementation of the U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire, which has held fragilely for some two weeks, radically reducing daily levels of violence.
Although the talks will officially start Wednesday, logistic and other issues have delayed the arrival of delegations, according to U.N. spokeswoman Jessy Chahine.
The opposition has set conditions before they will officially agree to rejoin the peace talks, and it is not yet certain whether they will indeed attend.
Members of the opposition’s High Negotiation Committee (HNC) will attend the U.N.’s “Cessation of hostilities” task force meeting on Wednesday, during which two separate panels will discuss issues related to monitoring the truce and delivering humanitarian aid.
Although the truce has held for the most part, sporadic fighting has continued.
According to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, fighting over the past two days has killed more people than in the previous eight days combined. Some 80 civilians have been killed since the cease-fire came into effect 10 days ago.
ISIS ‘Minister of War’ Likely Killed in U.S. Airstrike
A high-level commander in the so-called Islamic State group (ISIS) described by the Pentagon as the extremists’ “minister of war” was likely killed in a U.S. airstrike in northeastern Syria, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
Omar al-Shishani, a red-bearded Georgian fighting with ISIS, was targeted on March 4, according to a Pentagon official, who cautioned that the operation’s results were still being examined.
Shishani “likely died” along with 12 other ISIS fighters in an assault waged by U.S. warplanes and drones, the anonymous official said.
Al-Shishani, whose real name is Tarkhan Batirashvili, had a $5 million bounty on his head and was one of the top figures on the U.S.’s most wanted list.
The assault took place near the town of al-Shadadi in northeastern Syria, which was retaken from ISIS last month by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook described Shishani as “a battle-tested leader with experience who had led ISIL fighters in numerous engagements in Iraq and Syria,” while other U.S. officials have labeled him the equivalent of an ISIS “secretary of defense.”
YPG Accuses Rebels of Shelling District with Chemical Agents
A Syrian Kurdish militia on Tuesday accused Islamist factions and other rebel groups of shelling a primarily Kurdish residential area of Aleppo city with chemical agents, Reuters reports.
The People’s Protection Units (YPG) released a statement on Tuesday claiming that rebels operating in opposition-held districts of Aleppo had hit Sheikh Maqsoud with “chemical material believed to be phosphorous with a yellow coloring” at 3:00 pm local time.
In a letter the YPG said it had sent to the international task force monitoring the fragile truce in Syria, the group said the shelling had come from a collection of opposition groups, including the Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham, in addition to more mainstream groups such as the Levant Group, Nour al-Din al-Zinki and Liwa 13.
Kurdish fighters have been battling rebel groups on the outskirts of Sheikh Maqsoud and across the Aleppo countryside for weeks.
Kurdish sources said that approximately 16 people, mostly women and children, were killed on Sunday after rebels fired dozens of rockets into the mainly Kurdish residential area of the city.
The al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and other hard-line Islamist groups have launched dozens of rockets into the area in recent days, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
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- ABC News: The Besiegers and the Besieged: Visiting Syria’s Madaya With Hezbollah
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Top image: A Russian soldier stands guard in front of a Russian ground attack jet parked at Hemeimeem air base in Syria, Friday, March 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)