Talks ahead, UN humanitarians plead on behalf of Syrians

Earlier, the United Nations envoy and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had said that the invitations for the talks should not be sent out until “all pieces are lined up”.

De Mistura, a United Nations diplomat since 1971, said he expects the new round of talks to be contentious – but believes they can succeed where others have failed. He has said the talks will last for six months but has been lowering expectations about what they are likely to achieve.

Last month, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution on the Syria crisis that set a target for the peace talks to start this month.

News of the fall of Sheik Miskeen was viewed as casting a cloud over a meeting of the Syrian opposition in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to decide on whether to participate in the peace talks, scheduled to begin Friday in Geneva. There will be a lot of posturing, we know that, a lot of walk-outs and walk-ins because a bomb has fallen or because someone has done an attack, and you will see that happening, he said. The talks, originally scheduled to begin Monday, will reportedly focus on a broad-based cease-fire, stopping the threat of the Islamic State group and providing humanitarian aid to the areas hardest hit by the almost five-year civil war.

Russia, which sponsors Assad, needed to be put to the test about whether it was truly interested in peace and the defeat of Islamic State, as opposed to crushing the moderate opposition, Hammond said.

But as the date approached, fierce disagreements erupted over the composition of the guest list and notably who should comprise the opposition delegation.

Which opposition groups should be allowed to attend the talks has been a contentious point in the run-up.

And Haytham Manna, a longstanding opposition figure who is co-chair of the political wing of a Kurdish-Arab alliance, also said he had been invited. “That’s why we are being careful and extremely thorough in wanting to make sure that when and if we start, we start on the right foot”.

Kerry is “urging all sides to keep the momentum going towards negotiations without preconditions”, the official said. “Having made these requests, and being rebuffed, if they still go they will lose credibility inside Syria and appear to be Western/Gulf stooges who do what their masters say at the end of the day”.

The PYD is not part of the HNC, and powerful opposition backer Turkey has said it will boycott the talks if the Kurdish party is invited.

While Russia’s military intervention in Syria has not yielded substantial progress on the ground for the Assad government, Moscow has succeeded in propping up the embattle regime, according to a new analysis.

Mr de Mistura said the first phase of negotiations would last between two and three weeks.

The Syrian military and its allies have been encouraged by recent gains carved out with the help of overwhelming Russian fire power.

“If we attend, it’s as if we are selling our martyrs”, said Abu Ghiath al-Shami, spokesman for Alwiyat Seif al-Sham, one of the groups fighting against Assad’s forces in the southwest.

In November, IS claimed responsibility for the deadly November 13 Paris attacks that left 130 people dead and 350 others wounded.

Amid the government’s continued hardline stance and diplomatic movement by key worldwide players behind the talks, Syria’s opposition has raised doubts over whether it would attend the talks slated for Friday.