Syria opposition rules out talks before end to Russian air raids

Russian Federation backs its longtime ally President Bashar al-Assad and has bolstered pro-government forces with air strikes against insurgent groups since September.

The statement issued Saturday was signed by the Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed opposition group, as well as 44 rebel groups including Jaish al-Islam.

“They discussed the upcoming UN-sponsored negotiations regarding a political transition in Syria and all agreed on the urgent need to end the violence afflicting the Syrian people”. Asked if the peace talks would go ahead this week, he said “we leave this to the coming hours”.

The Syrian government has announced its readiness to participate in the negotiations but stressed that Damascus should be provided with a list of terrorist groups who are barred from the meeting and also the names of Syrian opposition figures expected to join the talks. Syrian government forces relying on Russian air cover have recently seized Salma, located in Syria’s province of Lattakia, from militants.

The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has the final say on the delegation and who will receive invitations to attend the talks.

Many of Assad’s opponents view it as a legitimate part of the opposition.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, meets with Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong at the Prime Minister’s Office in Vientiane, Laos, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. 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.

It was unclear if the raids in Deir Ezzor province, which is mostly controlled by the Islamic State group, were carried out by Russian or regime warplanes, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Jaysh al-Islam past year backed away from hardline Islamist rhetoric heard from it earlier in the conflict, saying Syrians should be free to pick their form of government and Alawites were part of the Syrian nation.