Syrian rebels say Russia responsible if peace talks fail

Kerry said any delay in the U.N.-led negotiations would be due to sending out invitations to participants.

A Russian diplomat said that if the Alloush delegation boycotted the Geneva talks, the Syrian government would simply negotiate with an alternative opposition delegation favoured by Russia. The Syrian government, which is backed by Russian Federation, has said it is ready to attend. It excludes, among other groups, representatives of the Democratic Union Party, or PYD, the largest Kurdish group which has been instrumental in the fight against the Islamic State group in northern Syria. His Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, said earlier in the week that the talks would “definitely not” be put off to February.

The UN-sponsored talks between the Syrian government and opposition, previously set to begin Monday, have been delayed by disagreement between the USA and Russian Federation over which parties to allow to participate.

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 session will not take place until the measures are implemented…” But the U.S. and its Western partners have moderated such demands as more than three months of Russia’s military intervention in Syria have reinforced Assad. Also on hand in Davos on Thursday, Ahmet Davutoglu, prime minister of Syria’s neighbor Turkey, said the “only criteria” was that “there should not be representation of terrorist groups”.

He added that the opposition needed to choose itself who would represent them at the table, adding that no one had the right to impose anything on the opposition. The Obama administration had posited during the nuclear negotiations that a post-deal Iran might be more cooperative on worldwide issues, but some Iran specialists say that, on the contrary, the country is likely to act more assertively in the region. The group named Mohamed Alloush, a political leader of the Saudi-backed armed group Jaish al-Islam, as its chief negotiator at the talks.

The office of United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura said he was still aiming “at rolling out the talks” on January 25, and would be “assessing progress over the weekend”.

Saudi Arabia backs opposition groups seeking to overthrow Assad. Moscow, however, views both the Army of Islam and Ahrar al Sham as terrorist organizations. But the Syrian Kurds have worked in concert with the US aerial campaign in Syria and have been among the most effective forces against Islamic State.

“We want to keep the process moving and put to full test the readiness and willingness of people” to achieve peace, Kerry said, expressing concern that the violence in Syria could spill over its borders.

“When there is a serious potential for a real negotiation, you will see everybody trying, first verbally, rhetorically, secondly militarily to take a better position”, he told CNN on Wednesday.