Speaking to reporters after a meeting with opposition leaders, Staffan de Mistura insisted "this is not the end, and it is not the failure of the talks."
De Mistura said both sides were "interested in having the political process started," and that he had set a new date of Feb. 25 for the resumption of the talks.
- The United Nations said on Wednesday that a military offensive around the city of Aleppo by Syrian government and allied forces has uprooted hundreds of families in nearby towns and killed three humanitarian aid workers.
- "The U.N. has received reports of displacement of hundreds of households in north-east towns of Bayanoun, Hariyatan, Anadan, Hayan and Rityan of Syria following an unprecedented frequency of air strikes in the past two days," a U.N. spokeswoman said in a statement to Reuters.
The United Nations struggled to save Syrian peace talks as Damascus and its Russian allies seized territory in fierce fighting and rifts widened among embattled rebel factions.
The Syrian army said on Wednesday its forces had broken through rebel defences to reach two Shi'ite villages in Aleppo province which had been besieged for three years. Rebels said the breakthrough came after hundreds of bombing raids by Russian warplanes.
Aleppo factions, reeling from an "unprecedented" onslaught, issued an ultimatum to the opposition delegation late on Tuesday at the so far still-born Geneva talks late on Tuesday, a source close to the talks said.
They threatened to bring down the peace negotiations within three days unless the offensive by government and Russian forces ended.
De Mistura announced the formal start two days ago of the Geneva negotiations, the first attempt in two years to negotiate an end to a war that has killed 250,000 people, driven a huge wave of refugees and empowered the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.
But talks have not even begun, and pessimism over their chances has grown.
"It seems the first phase of preparations (for talks) will take a much longer time than expected," government delegation chief Bashar al-Ja'afari told Reuters in an interview in Geneva on Wednesday.
"The official discussions did not take off yet unfortunately. We are still discussing how to proceed."
Ja'afari said the government was still unclear on who it would be negotiating with from the fragmented opposition side.
The opposition's chief coordinator Riad Hijab, who diplomats say is a unifying figure for the disparate rebel side, arrived in Geneva and was joined by de Mistura for talks at a hotel used by the opposition...
[alarabiya.net]
3/2/16
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Related:
Syrian army encircles Aleppo as ceasefire talks fade. Appeal to foreign states that back the rebels to send more weapons
Syria conflict: Government 'cuts Aleppo rebel supply route'...
- Syrie: le processus enlisé à Genève, Moscou n'a aucune intention d'arrêter ses bombardements...
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Négociations au point mort à Genève, les forces d'Assad progressent à Alep...
ReplyDeleteAppuyés par l'aviation russe, l'armée syrienne et ses alliés ont coupé la route d'approvisionnement des rebelles au nord d'Alep. Dans le même temps à Genève, les négociations de paix ont été reportée au 25 février.
Cela faisait plus d'un an qu'ils essayaient sans succès. L'armée syrienne et ses alliés ont coupé mercredi 3 février la route d'approvisionnement des rebelles au nord d'Alep. Appelée route d'Azaz, du nom d'une ville frontalière de la Turquie, elle était la principale voie par laquelle transitait, hommes, armes et vivres, depuis le territoire turc, vers les zones rebelles.
Les troupes du régime ont également brisé le siège imposé depuis plus de trois ans par les rebelles islamistes aux localités de Nebbol et Zahra, sur leur chemin en direction de la ville d'Alep, a affirmé la source militaire présente sur le front.
Soutien russe
Il s'agit de la plus importante avancée des troupes du régime dans la province du même nom depuis 2012. À la différence des précédentes tentatives menées par les forces loyalistes, elles étaient cette fois appuyées par l'aviation russe. Wassim Nasr, journaliste à France 24, spécialiste des mouvements jihadistes, relève ainsi que les forces de Bachar al-Assad bénéficient dans cette bataille "d’armes et de chars dernier cri, fournis par la Russie, sans oublier le soutien incessant de la Russie depuis plusieurs mois", qu'il qualifie de "tapis de bombes contre les zones rebelles".
Moscou, fidèle allié du régime de Damas, intervient militairement depuis fin septembre en Syrie, officiellement contre des cibles "terroristes". Ses bombardements ont permis de "renverser la situation" au profit du régime, a reconnu récemment le chef de la diplomatie russe Serguei Lavrov.....france24.com
Syria says Saudi, Qatar, Turkey told opposition to quit Geneva talks...
ReplyDeleteThe head of the Syrian government's delegation on Wednesday accused the opposition of wanting to withdraw from peace talks under pressure from regional powers, and the United Nations of suspending the talks until Feb. 25 to avoid such a walk-out.
Bashar Ja'afari, Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, who leads the Damascus delegation, told reporters in Geneva: "We knew few hours ago the Riyadh (opposition) wanted to withdraw from the talks and that's why Mr. De Mistura's announcement came as a political coverage of the decision to withdraw.
"We consider that the style used by the Special Envoy to justify the withdrawal of Riyadh delegation under instructions from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey was not subjective. It didn't say the truth as it was," he said, speaking before going into talks with UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura.
REUTERS