ISIL will be ‘seriously dented’ by year’s end

DAVOS // US secretary of state John Kerry yesterday said the US- led coalition bombing ISIL strongholds in Syria and Iraq would reach its goal of “seriously denting” the group by the end of the year. His remark came as peace talks aimed at ending Syria’s conflict looked likely to be delayed for several days.

Talks between the Syrian government and part of the armed and political opposition were scheduled to begin on Monday in Geneva.

But yesterday, Jessy Chahine, a spokeswoman for UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is scheduled to host the talks, said the start date “may slip by a few days for practical reasons”. Earlier in the day, Mr Kerry had said the talks would be pushed back by only a day or two – if at all.

The United Nations has said it would not issue invitations until major powers that endorse the talks, including the US and Russia, agreed on who should represent the opposition. But a dispute over this has yet to be resolved.

On Wednesday, the main coalition of opposition bodies announced its delegation to the talks. Its decision to name a member of the Jaish Al Islam militant group as its chief negotiator drew criticism from some of its own members, and opposition figures excluded from the coalition. Haytham Manna, an opposition figure who does not belong to the main coalition, accused it of including “war criminals” in its delegation. And yesterday a Russian diplomat said Moscow would back an alternative opposition delegation if the existing opposition team was not reformed or boycotted the talks.

Meanwhile, a Syrian government source said yesterday that the Damascus delegation will be headed by the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Al Jaafari.