Syrian rebels cast doubt on talks
BEIRUT/AMMAN: Syrian rebels cast doubt yesterday that they would attend Russian-backed peace talks this week, accusing Moscow of failing to get Damascus to fully comply with a ceasefire or take any confidence-building steps.
Kazakhstan said on Saturday it had invited the government and rebels for February 15-16 talks. They attended a similar indirect meeting in the Kazakh capital Astana last month aimed at shoring up a ceasefire brokered by Turkey and Russia, President Bashar al-Assad’s most powerful ally.
“The opposition factions will not attend Astana because the Russian side did not abide by what they agreed to before, during and after Astana to uphold the ceasefire agreement,” Mohammad Al Aboud, a senior rebel official, said.
A second rebel official said at most a handful of rebels might attend, but only if progress was seen in the next two days.
Russia had so far failed to yield any tangible steps towards full implementation of the ceasefire, humanitarian aid access, or a release of female detainees the rebels had demanded at the first Astana meeting, he added.
Russia and Turkey, which backs the rebels, have sought to revive diplomacy towards ending the war since the Syrian government and its backers defeated the rebels in Aleppo in December, their biggest defeat of the conflict.
A new round of UN-backed peace talks is due to begin in Geneva next week.
The Syrian government said earlier yesterday it was ready to agree on prisoner swaps with rebel groups, which the opposition wants before any negotiations over Syria’s political future. – Reuters