Kerry says no direct meetings to start Syria peace talks

The peace talks the first between the Syrian government and the opposition since 2012 are scheduled to open in Geneva on January 25 but invitations have yet to be sent to the delegations.

It’s hardly a promising start for a “process”, as Secretary of State John Kerry calls the discussions, which are supposed to lead to a cease-fire, a political transition, and an end to Syria’s devastating 5-year-old civil war.

A Russian official has said the talks will go ahead with another delegation if the Riyadh team refuses to attend or does not include members of the “moderate” opposition.

The former prime minister also said that the opposition could not negotiate while Syrians “suffer from shelling, starvation and siege” by government forces.

“The PYD wants to hijack the Kurdish cause in Syria”, said Sieda, himself a Kurd, but an opponent of the PYD.

Russia, which supports the Syrian government, said it still considers the Jaysh al-Islam a terrorist organization, implying that similar groups should not be involved in negotiations.

“It is likely the 25th may slip by a few days for practical reasons”, said Jessy Chahine, a spokeswoman for U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is scheduled to host the talks.

Diplomatic sources downplayed concerns, saying it was more important to ensure the talks were credible than to worry about a brief delay.

A delay of one or two days in the start of the talks not be the end of the world, a U.S. State Department spokesman said later on Wednesday in Washington.

Jaafari had the same role in a previous round of peace talks in Geneva in 2014.

Peace efforts face huge underlying challenges, among them disagreements over President Bashar al-Assad’s future and tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Obama administration had posited during the nuclear negotiations that a post-deal Iran might be more cooperative on global issues, but some Iran specialists say that, on the contrary, the country is likely to act more assertively in the region.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry takes his seat across the table from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, for their meeting about Syria, in Zurich, Switzerland, January 20, 2016. “The session will not take place until the measures are implemented…”

“Putting someone from the Army of Islam as a chief negotiator, means that they want to impose an Islamic state. We understand that. We disagreed on how we would manage it”, he said.

“We don’t know what their intent is, but it is something we are watching closely”, one official said, citing the already fraught relationship between Turkey and Russia following an incident late past year when Turkey shot down a Russian military jet that Ankara claimed had breached Turkish airspace.

Meanwhile in Syria, opposition activists said air raids on two villages in an eastern province killed at least 40 people and wounded scores more.

Displaced people have fled Islamic State-controlled areas in Syria, including Deir al-Zor.