The Syria peace talks in Geneva have run into multiple hurdles as the regime of Bashar Al Assad and his allies are indulging in actions with the specific intention of torpedoing the talks. As the negotiations were struggling to take off yesterday, with both sides articulating their demands and expressing fears about the sustainability of the process, the Syrian government forces, backed by their main ally Russia, ramped up advances against rebels in several areas of the country’s west where the main cities are located, even threatening rebel supply lines into the northern city of Aleppo. The representatives of the main opposition High Negotiation Committee (HNC), which includes political and militant opponents of President Bashar Al Assad, have warned that they will not negotiate unless the government stops bombarding civilian areas, lifts blockades and releases detainees. That Assad’s forces are intensifying their attacks against the opposition, thus wantonly disregarding the opposition demand, shows the lack of seriousness on the part of the regime to join the peace process. The opposition issued a statement condemning ‘a massive acceleration of Russian and regime military aggression on Aleppo and Homs’, calling it a threat to the political process.
The talks, being sponsored by the United Nations, have failed even in its basic objective of making the two warring sides sit across the table. While the UN envoy Staffan de Mistura announced the formal start of the talks on Monday, billed as the first attempt in two years to negotiate an end to a war that has killed 250,000 people, the government and the opposition representatives said the talks have not started yet. The Syrian delegation said the UN was yet to provide an agenda or list of opposition participants, without which the talks wouldn’t make sense. Mistura has promised to present an opposition delegation list by today, but that is unlikely to happen as the makeup of the participants is a subject to fierce disagreements among the regional and global powers that have been sucked into the conflict.
The opposition demand that the regime forces must, at first, stop the bombardment of civilians is genuine. Syrian and Russian forces are stepping up their operations to eliminate the opposition while entering the talks. The opposition, which is struggling to preserve the gains made in the war, is finding itself weak. Before bringing the two sides to the negotiating table, the UN envoy should convince the Assad regime to agree to a temporary ceasefire, even if brief. US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Moscow to stop the bombing during the peace process, but that request has fallen on deaf ears.
Nobody had any high expectations about the chances of success of the talks, but now they are facing a sudden collapse.
The Syria peace talks in Geneva have run into multiple hurdles as the regime of Bashar Al Assad and his allies are indulging in actions with the specific intention of torpedoing the talks. As the negotiations were struggling to take off yesterday, with both sides articulating their demands and expressing fears about the sustainability of the process, the Syrian government forces, backed by their main ally Russia, ramped up advances against rebels in several areas of the country’s west where the main cities are located, even threatening rebel supply lines into the northern city of Aleppo. The representatives of the main opposition High Negotiation Committee (HNC), which includes political and militant opponents of President Bashar Al Assad, have warned that they will not negotiate unless the government stops bombarding civilian areas, lifts blockades and releases detainees. That Assad’s forces are intensifying their attacks against the opposition, thus wantonly disregarding the opposition demand, shows the lack of seriousness on the part of the regime to join the peace process. The opposition issued a statement condemning ‘a massive acceleration of Russian and regime military aggression on Aleppo and Homs’, calling it a threat to the political process.
The talks, being sponsored by the United Nations, have failed even in its basic objective of making the two warring sides sit across the table. While the UN envoy Staffan de Mistura announced the formal start of the talks on Monday, billed as the first attempt in two years to negotiate an end to a war that has killed 250,000 people, the government and the opposition representatives said the talks have not started yet. The Syrian delegation said the UN was yet to provide an agenda or list of opposition participants, without which the talks wouldn’t make sense. Mistura has promised to present an opposition delegation list by today, but that is unlikely to happen as the makeup of the participants is a subject to fierce disagreements among the regional and global powers that have been sucked into the conflict.
The opposition demand that the regime forces must, at first, stop the bombardment of civilians is genuine. Syrian and Russian forces are stepping up their operations to eliminate the opposition while entering the talks. The opposition, which is struggling to preserve the gains made in the war, is finding itself weak. Before bringing the two sides to the negotiating table, the UN envoy should convince the Assad regime to agree to a temporary ceasefire, even if brief. US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Moscow to stop the bombing during the peace process, but that request has fallen on deaf ears.
Nobody had any high expectations about the chances of success of the talks, but now they are facing a sudden collapse.
