Dara’a surrender talks with Russia fail, Syria rebels say
MOSCOW REJECTS REBEL DEMAND TO KEEP THEIR LIGHT WEAPONS; BOMBINGS RESUME
Syrian rebels said yesterday talks with regime ally Russia over the country’s south had collapsed, and soon after Russian air strikes hit the rebel-held towns of Tafas and Saida.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitoring group said yesterday that Russian air strikes had targeted southwest Syria for the first time in four days, hitting the rebel-held towns.
Russia has been backing a two-week offensive by Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s forces against rebels in the southern provinces of Dara’a and Quneitra.
But it is simultaneously brokering talks with rebel towns for negotiated surrenders in a carrot-and-stick strategy that Russia and the regime have successfully used in the past.
More than 30 towns have already agreed to return to regime control and talks were focused on remaining rebel territory in Dara’a’s western countryside and the southern half of the city.
Rebels met with a Russian delegation yesterday afternoon to deliver their decision on Moscow’s proposal for a regime takeover of the rest of the south.
About 90 minutes after the meeting was set to begin, the joint rebel command for the south announced the talks had “failed.”
“Negotiations with the Russian enemy in Busra Al Sham have failed, after they insisted on the surrender of heavy weapons,” the command said in an online statement.
Their spokesman Ebrahim Jabbawi said the talks had not produced “any results” because Moscow had insisted rebels hand over their heavyduty arms in one go.
“The session ended. No future meetings have been set,” Jabbawi told AFP.
A source close to the talks said rebels would be willing to hand over heavy weapons in multiple phases.
The meeting followed an hours-long session on Tuesday, in which rebels proposed the army’s withdrawal from recaptured towns and safe passage to opposition territory elsewhere for fighters or civilians unwilling to live under regime control.
Terms rejected
But Moscow had roundly rejected the terms, the source said, and responded with a counter-proposal.
It told negotiators population transfers were not on the table in the south, although it had agreed to them in other areas like Eastern Ghouta and Aleppo.
Russia insisted the army would return to its pre-2011 positions, and local police would take over towns in coordination with Russian military police.
The source had said before yesterday’s meeting that the rebels were expected to give their “final answer”. “Today will be the last round - either the rebels agree to these terms, or the military operations resume,” the source said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said air strikes had stopped for several days to allow for negotiations.
Moscow has used tough deadlines in the past with rebels but has sometimes extended them.