Rebels: Government, Russia responsible if peace talks fail

Russian warplanes have flown almost 6,000 missions in support of Syrian government troops since President Vladimir Putin launched the country’s bombing campaign on September 30 previous year. The town in Latakia province, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad, had been controlled by rebel groups, including Syrian Turkmen and al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, since 2012.

Who sits among the opposition negotiators has emerged as the key sticking point in landmark political talks with the Syrian government that were scheduled to begin January 25 in Geneva.

Syrian opposition groups say they hold the Syrian government and its Russian backers responsible for any failure in peace talks due to their “ongoing crimes” in Syria including the “besiegement and starvation of civilians”.

“I would expect all sides to recognize my mandated responsibility to finalize a list of invitees to the process, to include all those I deem appropriate”, de Mistura reportedly said, complaining that the Saudi-backed opposition coalition and its “sponsors insist on the primacy and exclusivity of their role as “THE” opposition delegation”. Russia has weakened US opposition to Assad seeking re-election, according to Russian and Western diplomats.

Ankara, which opposes Assad, has said it will continue supporting moderate rebels in Syria and Turkmen fighters battling pro-Syrian government forces. He is a member of the politburo of Jaysh al-Islam (Islam Army), a major rebel faction which Moscow considers a terrorist group.

On Saturday, Kerry reaffirmed that the United Nations would hold the talks on schedule and might invite representatives in addition to the main opposition delegation formed in Riyadh in December. The deaths came as diplomats prepared for another round of peace talks next week and US authorities announced they were ready to find a military solution to the problem posed by the Islamic State group in Syria in the event a political one does not work out. Alluding to a goal of the talks, he said the Syrian people “need to feel comfortable that what we are doing is really business this time”.

“If there are some parties that are effective in this Syria issue who are not at the table, it will be the same as what happened in Geneva 2”, Saleh Muslim, co-chair of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) told Reuters, referring to failed negotiations in 2014.

The Financial Times had earlier reported that the head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency travelled to Damascus at the end of previous year to ask Assad to step down only to be angrily rebuffed.