Syria's main political opposition group in exile, the National Coalition, agreed on Saturday to attend the talks beginning on Wednesday in Geneva, setting up the first meeting between President Bashar al-Assad's government and its foes.
But the Islamic Front, an alliance of several Islamist fighting forces that represents a large portion of the rebels on the ground, said on Sunday it rejected the talks.
Syria's future would be "formulated here on the ground of heroism, and signed with blood on the front lines, not in hollow conferences attended by those who don't even represent themselves," Abu Omar, a leading member of the Islamic Front, said on his Twitter account.
Some 130,000 people have been killed and a quarter of Syrians driven from their homes in the civil war, which began with peaceful protests against 40 years of Assad family rule and has descended into a sectarian conflict, with the opposing sides armed and funded by Sunni Arab states and Shi'ite Iran.
SOME AID REACHES BESIEGED AREA
In what appeared to be a symbolic conciliatory move ahead of the talks, Syria permitted some aid to reach a besieged suburb of Damascus on Saturday and Sunday, state media said.
Saturday's shipment included only 200 food parcels for Yarmouk, a camp of Palestinian refugees where 15 people have died of malnutrition so far under a seven-month siege. U.N. Relief Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness said it would feed just 330 of the camp's 18,000 residents for a month. It was not immediately clear how much aid made it through on Sunday.
Cold War foes Moscow and Washington, which have emerged as the leading pro- and anti-Assad powers, have urged both parties to make concessions, including ceasefires, access for aid and prisoner exchanges, to build confidence before the conference.
Russian news agency Itar-Tass cited Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying that the opposition Coalition had made "a correct decision" in agreeing to attend.
"We have been saying the entire time that it is necessary to go to the forum and enter into dialogue with the government."
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, on a visit to Moscow this month, said he had given Russian officials a plan for a truce in Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, and said the government was ready to swap lists of prisoners to be freed.
But there is little sign of violence abating or of either side winning a final victory on the battlefield.
Activists around the country, from the capital to Aleppo to the eastern province of Deir al-Zor on the border with Iraq, said that the Syrian air force was using jets and helicopters to bomb rebel-held areas.
Rebel fighters from Syria's Qalamoun mountain range, near the border with Lebanon, said more than 60 opposition militants had been killed in an ambush by forces loyal to Assad on Sunday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad monitoring group, said that helicopters over Aleppo were using crudely-made and inaccurate "barrel bombs", which can collapse entire apartment blocks. It said 194 people had been killed on Saturday. Death tolls on such a scale have become almost routine as fighting has intensified in the past year.
After two years when Western countries believed Assad's days were numbered and rebels seized whole swathes of the country, the past year has seen the war largely go the president's way.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=127236
19/1/14
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>>>>Yarmouk refugee camp gets aid for first time in months<<<<<
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Islamist rebels reject 'hollow' Syria peace talks...
ReplyDeleteBEIRUT - A powerful alliance of Syrian Islamist rebels rejected upcoming peace talks on Sunday, meaning that even if the talks reach an unlikely breakthrough in the three year old civil war, it will be harder to implement it on the ground.
Syria's main political opposition group in exile, the National Coalition, agreed on Saturday to attend the talks beginning on Wednesday in Geneva, setting up the first meeting between President Bashar Assad's government and its foes.
But the Islamic Front, an alliance of several Islamist fighting forces that represents a large portion of the rebels on the ground, said on Sunday it rejected the talks.
Syria's future would be "formulated here on the ground of heroism, and signed with blood on the front lines, not in hollow conferences attended by those who don't even represent themselves," Abu Omar, a leading member of the Islamic Front, said on his Twitter account.
Some 130,000 people have been killed and a quarter of Syrians driven from their homes in the civil war, which began with peaceful protests against 40 years of Assad family rule and has descended into a sectarian conflict, with the opposing sides armed and funded by Sunni Arab states and Shi'ite Iran.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Islamist-rebels-reject-hollow-Syria-peace-talks-338660
19/1/14
Iran invited to Geneva 2, Syrian opposition threatens to withdraw...
ReplyDeleteIran has been officially invited to participate in the Geneva 2 Syria peace conference on January 22, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. The Syrian National Coalition has threatened to withdraw from the talks, unless Iran’s invitation is revoked.
The UN chief also said that he had assurances from Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that Tehran would play a “constructive role" in solving the crisis in Syria, Reuters reports.
“I believe strongly that Iran needs to be part of the solution to the Syrian crisis,” Ban told reporters today in New York after discussions with Iranian officials. “Iran said that they are committed to play a very constructive and important and positive role.”
The US State Department has accepted the invitation of Iran on the condition it expresses “explicit and public support for the full implementation of the Geneva communiqué including the establishment of a transitional governing body by mutual consent with full executive authorities.”
"If Iran does not fully and publicly accept the Geneva communiqué, the invitation must be rescinded," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, expressing deep concern about Iran's “contributions to the Assad regime's brutal campaign against its own people.”
So far, Tehran has not accepted the Geneva 1 declaration in full because it believes creating a transitional government in Syria would exclude any participation of President Bashar Assad from the country's political future. Ban however said he is convinced Iran eventually will accept the Geneva 1 communique.
"Foreign Minister Zarif and I agree that the goal of the negotiations is to establish, by mutual consent, a transitional governing body with full executive powers," Ban said. "It was on that basis that Foreign Minister Zarif pledged that Iran would play a positive and constructive role in Montreux."
Representatives of Iran and 39 other countries will attend talks in Montreux, Switzerland in advance of negotiations in Geneva starting January 24. Ban also has invited nine other nations on Saturday that have an interest in the Syrian conflict, saying that their presence would be an important display of solidarity. These include representatives of Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Greece, the Holy See, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands and the Republic of Korea. ......http://rt.com/news/iran-invited-geneva-conference-867/
20/1/14