Russia stutters in bid to end Syrian war
• Differences with Assad partner Iran threaten to take Moscow down the same path the US has been before
Russia is struggling to salvage its bid to secure a deal to end six years of civil war in Syria as deepening differences with Iran risk a repeat of previous failed peace efforts led by the US.
“Things aren’t going as smoothly as we would want” in the Geneva talks, President Vladimir Putin told reporters on Tuesday in Kyrgyzstan.
Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov met the Syrian government delegation head, Bashar Jaafari, in Geneva, where the UN is holding the first round of Syria negotiations in almost a year. Russian officials were due to meet the main Syrian opposition group, the westernbacked High Negotiations Committee later in the day. It is demanding that Russia press President Bashar al-Assad and his other chief ally, Iran, to observe a ceasefire and discuss steps for a political transition.
“Iran never wants any solution in Syria; the way they act on the ground shows that they want this war to continue,” the group’s chief spokesman, Salem al-Muslet, said. “Hopefully, the Russians will understand that there is a partner that does not want any political transition and they will put pressure on the regime to start the negotiations.”
Russia seized the initiative in Syria after the collapse of peace attempts with the US in the last months of former President Barack Obama’s administration. In December, Moscow brokered a ceasefire with Turkey, a key backer of the rebels. But despite an accord last month to involve Iran in monitoring the truce, the opposition says violations are continuing by Assad’s forces and their allies.
While new US President Donald Trump has called for an alliance with Russia to fight the jihadists, he has also branded Iran as the “number one terrorist” threat even as the Kremlin insists on including Iranianbacked and Assad forces in the antiterrorist campaign in Syria.
“Russia is in a very difficult position, it’s being torn between its traditional partners, Assad and Iran, and its potential partners in the fight against Islamic State — Turkey and the US,” said Alexander Shumilin, head of the Middle East Conflicts Centre at the Institute for US and Canada Studies, a state-run research group in Moscow.
The UN on Monday said it was “extremely concerned” about the more than 400,000 people who remain besieged in eastern Ghoutah outside the capital Damascus. Intense fighting in and around the town has been reported over the past week, according to the UN.
Russian officials say they hope to advance discussions on a new constitution for Syria. Russia proposed a draft law for Syria’s government last month that would reportedly curb some of Assad’s powers and impose term limits.
Iran and Assad were openly opposed to Russia’s more flexible stance that it sees as necessary to involve the US and its allies in a postwar reconstruction and secure an exit strategy for its military campaign in Syria, said Shumilin.
“This is a source of major tension, how to bring in the opposition forces without alienating Assad and Iran,” Shumilin said.
IRAN NEVER WANTS A SOLUTION; THE WAY THEY ACT ON THE GROUND SHOWS THEY WANT THE WAR TO CONTINUE