Syrian opposition not in Geneva on the day of peace talks

Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy for Syria, on Thursday said that the upcoming intra-Syrian talks can not fail and five years of this conflict in Syria have been too much.

A spokeswoman for his office, speaking before the opposition statement, said the talks would begin on Friday as scheduled.

“We expect there to be at least a mechanism for implementing U.N. Security Council clauses that have to do with humanitarian issues”. A Western diplomat in contact with the opposition said he saw no signs that their regional backers, notably Saudi Arabia and Turkey, were in any way dissuading them from coming to Geneva.

“And we still believe they should do so without preconditions”, spokesman Mark Toner said.

The already delayed talks have been marred in controversy and disagreements over who should attend.

A powerful Kurdish party, the PYD, has been excluded from the talks, in line with the wishes of Turkey which views it as a terrorist group.

The main Syrian opposition group says it will attend the talks, after initially refusing to go to Geneva.

De Mistura issued an emotional video message on Thursday to Syrians both inside and outside the country saying that after previous failures, this new effort “cannot fail”.

The talks are expected to aim for a political transition leading towards elections within 18 months but are fraught with serious disagreements.

With Damascus showing no signs of meeting any of those demands, George Sabra, a senior member of the HNC, told the Arabic news channel Arabiya al-Hadath Thursday that “for certain we will not head to Geneva” or send a delegation to the talks.

Russia, however, which has been assisting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad with air strikes against rebels since September, says Kurdish involvement is essential.

“The presence of three delegations expresses the will of the (U.N.) Security Council who called for a delegation representing all parties of the opposition”, former Syrian deputy prime minister, Qadri Jamil, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura will meet other participants in the talks, including civil society representatives.

George Sabra, a member of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, says the opposition will not attend the peace talks while the Syrian government continues to carry out airstrikes and blockades.

In a an attempt to secure the participation of the Saudi- backed opposition, Mr de Mistura altered the status of invitees and the format of the talks.

In a reflection of the deep animosity and complexity of the task, de Mistura has decided that these will be “proximity talks”, rather than face-to-face sessions — meaning that he plans to keep the delegations in separate rooms with a lot of shuttling in between.

Hijab was speaking from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where the opposition have support from the government.

He stressed that it was up to the combatants to help the Syrian people. The Syrian government made advances in two key provinces, Latakia and Daraa, this week against rebel forces.