Syrian opposition group spurns talks in Moscow
BEIRUT — The main Syrian exile opposition group refused Friday to attend a meeting in Moscow that would have brought it face to face with Syrian government officials for the first time, albeit in an informal, technical gathering to address the country’s humanitarian crisis.
The refusal drew sharp criticism from Russia, which blames the opposition group for paralyzing diplomatic efforts to end Syria’s civil war with its insistence that President Bashar Assad step down as a precondition for any talks. That includes the negotiations in Geneva that Russia and the United States are struggling to arrange.
The U.S.-backed exile group, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, issued a statement denouncing Russia for inviting other opponents of Assad that it considers too close to the government, including some who have declared that they are more willing to compromise.
Many in the opposition — including the National Coalition — view Russia’s efforts to involve such groups as a ploy to bolster Assad.
But independent analysts monitoring the conflict see the prospects of Assad stepping down ahead of talks as increasingly unrealistic, and as Washington shifts its focus to disarming Syria of its chemical weapons, there is little sign that it will provide enough military support to the rebels to change presidents. Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis is deepening, with 9 million Syrians forced from their homes, about 40 percent of the population, and more than 100,000 dead.
Although Syrians on both sides of the conflict voice a desire to end the war, the factious coalition is stuck between insurgent groups that have called negotiations an act of treason and a growing number of opposition activists who reluctantly have concluded that compromise is urgent to save lives. Neither puts much faith in the coalition, which many say does not represent them.
Moscow invited an array of self-described opposition figures, some of whose anti-Assad credentials are stronger than others. One is Haytham al-Manaa, a leader of an opposition group that rejects the armed insurgency but consistently has opposed the government and has had many of its members jailed.
Others include Qadri Jamil, who until last week was Assad’s deputy prime minister, and Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of Assad’s who played a leading role in the bloody suppression of a violent Islamist uprising in the Syrian city of Hama in 1982 and was later exiled for trying to lead a coup.
The coalition statement said that the Russians were “reinforcing the efforts of the Assad regime to present an opposition that they created in its own image; an opposition that never once defended the rights of the Syrian people.” It said Russia could not be a broker in the conflict when it is supporting Assad politically, financially and militarily.
The refusal appeared to reflect disagreement within the coalition and between it and its U.S. sponsors. Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, had said Thursday that the opposition had responded positively to the proposal for the informal talks.
A spokesman for the coalition, Bayan Khatib, said Wednesday that, despite initial reluctance, the coalition was considering attending, with U.S. encouragement.
In the latest of a string of military victories bolstering the confidence of the government, loyalist forces backed by a barrage of artillery and airstrikes forced rebels out of a strategic military base they had held since February near the disputed northern city of Aleppo, according to Reuters.
The conflict appears to remain a deadlocked patchwork, with each side making gains and losses in different areas but unable to dislodge the other. This week, rebels seized one of the country’s largest ammunition depots near Mhin, while the government regained control of the Damascus suburb of Sbeineh.
Also on Friday, the United Nations said a campaign to vaccinate children in the Middle East against polio has begun after the first cases in 14 years were confirmed in northeast Syria last week.
The U.N. children’s fund said that Red Crescent and government health workers in Syria and neighboring countries aim to immunize 20 million children. UNICEF said 10 children have been paralyzed by the virus, and it poses a risk to hundreds of thousands of children.
It said preliminary evidence indicates that the strain in Syria is of Pakistani origin and is similar to one found in sewage samples in Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Also on Friday, Denmark said it is willing to help take chemical weapons out of Syria by sea and provide bodyguards for a key U.N. official there.
The U.N. unofficially has asked whether Denmark could contribute ships to transport the weapons from Syria for destruction, Defense Minister Nikolai Wammen said.
Foreign Aid Minister Christian Friis Bach added that there are no plans for the weapons to be destroyed in Denmark.