Kerry dismisses posturing ahead of peace talks on Syria

Syrian pro-government forces recaptured a key rebel-held town in coastal Latakia province on Sunday, building on battlefield advances in the area ahead of planned peace talks this week in Geneva between Damascus and Syria’s opposition.

The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces (SNC) said in a statement on Saturday that last month’s U.N. Security Council resolution 2254, which endorsed the ISSG table for peace talks, had called clearly for an immediate ceasefire and immediate provision of access to humanitarian agencies wanting to help Syrians in need.

UN-sponsored talks in Geneva, Switzerland, between the Syrian government and opposition groups have been hanging in the balance as the various backers have tried to resolve disputes among themselves. United States officials say that most of the Russian air strikes have hit other rebel groups fighting Assad, including foreign-backed insurgents.

“They have expressed common view that in the interests of effective outer supervision of the inter-Syrian political process it would be reasonable to continue using the format of the International Syria Support Group led by Russian Federation, the United States and United Nations”, the ministry said.

The head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces surrounded the town on three sides within 48 hours after occupying the surrounding area.

“We are confident that with good initiative in the next day or so, those talks can get going”, Kerry told reporters on Saturday in Riyadh.

Rabia served as a major stronghold for foreign-backed Takfiri terrorists, and its capture gave Syrian army soldiers the upper hand in their campaign to secure the northern sector of Latakia Province. In addition to the Geneva talks, the two also exchanged views on Russia’s airstrikes in Syria, diplomatic sources said.

Syrian government forces fire towards Takfiri Daesh militants south of the city of al-Bab in the northern province of Aleppo on January 14, 2016. The group has threatened not to attend the talks if other opposition factions are invited. Now with Assad being reinforced militarily (and politically) by Russian Federation, alongside Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the regime believes that there is no need for negotiations.

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“Overall, I think the United States is very aware of the danger of Iran’s mischief and nefarious activities”, he said.

“The Russian intervention has really changed the rules of the game”, said Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern politics at the London School of Economics.

Information for this article was contributed by Carol Morello of The Washington Post; by Matthew Lee and staff members of The Associated Press; and by Deema Almashabi, Henry Meyer and Kambiz Foroohar of Bloomberg News.