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Squabbles Persist Over Who Should Be at Syria Peace Talks Squabbles Persist Over Who Should Be at Syria Peace Talks
(about 7 hours later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Secretary of State John Kerry and the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, met Wednesday in Zurich to try to iron out differences that increasingly threaten to scuttle or postpone peace talks on Syria scheduled to begin next week. BEIRUT, Lebanon — The top diplomats from Russia and the United States met in Zurich on Wednesday to reconcile problems threatening to postpone or even scuttle international talks to end the Syria war that are scheduled for next week.
Their meeting began shortly after a Syrian opposition council announced that its negotiating team would be led by a rebel fighter, Asaad al-Zoubi, a former Syrian Army colonel who defected and now leads American-backed insurgents in southern Syria. The team will also include Mohammad Alloush, a representative of the Army of Islam, a large Islamist faction powerful in the rebel-held outskirts of Damascus. But the meeting, between Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov, adjourned with no clarity from the participants on precisely when or even whether those talks, tentatively set for Monday, would proceed.
The appointments add a measure of ground-level credibility to the opposition’s negotiating team, compared with the last round of talks two years ago. Then, the Syrian government argued that the opposition delegates had no influence with groups fighting on the battlefield. The main problem revolves around precisely who will represent the range of Arab and Western-backed opposition in the talks with the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who is supported by Russia and Iran in the conflict, now nearly five years old.
But they also underscore the many challenges facing the talks, scheduled for Monday, as the United States and Russia, the Syrian’s government’s most powerful ally, struggle to agree on which antigovernment rebels are acceptable and which are considered terrorists. Both Damascus and Moscow are likely to view the Army of Islam as a terrorist group. Further dimming the prospects for convening the meeting in coming days are indications that Mr. Assad, emboldened by heavy Russian airstrikes against his enemies, is feeling more confident of his position and therefore less inclined to negotiate. American officials have expressed concern about that possibility.
An opposition council, known as the Syrian High Negotiations Committee, announced that its team would be led by a rebel fighter, Asaad al-Zoubi, a former Syrian Army colonel who defected and now leads American-backed insurgents in southern Syria. The team will also include Mohammad Alloush, a representative of the Army of Islam, a large Islamist faction powerful in the rebel-held outskirts of Damascus.
The appointments add credibility to the influence of the opposition’s negotiating team compared with the last round of talks two years ago. Then, the Syrian government argued that the opposition delegates held no sway with insurgents on the battlefield.
But the inclusion of fighters on the opposition’s list of negotiators also was likely to face strong objections from Mr. Assad and the Russians, who view such figures as terrorists and are inclined to blacklist them.
“Not all goes smoothly,” a Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said Wednesday in remarks carried on the official Tass news agency. “Tough disagreements persist on who should be included in the ‘white’ and ‘black’ lists.”“Not all goes smoothly,” a Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said Wednesday in remarks carried on the official Tass news agency. “Tough disagreements persist on who should be included in the ‘white’ and ‘black’ lists.”
The standoff threatens the prospects of a settlement. The United Nations, which is mediating the talks, has yet to send out invitations and officials have said they will not do so until the world powers arrive at an agreement. The United Nations, which is mediating the talks, has yet to send invitations and officials have said they will not do so until the world powers arrive at an agreement.
The meeting comes as the Syrian government, backed by Russian airstrikes, has made several gains against antigovernment insurgents. Analysts say this is making the government less eager to negotiate, even as Islamic State militants gain ground in Deir al-Zour in the country’s far east. The special United Nations envoy for the Syria conflict, Staffan de Mistura, has been ambiguous about any progress. Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Mr. de Mistura told the BBC he was optimistic the talks could be scheduled in January. But he also told CNN that they might not start on Monday.
The United States has signaled that it is looking for common ground with Russia and is ready to back away from its insistence that President Bashar al-Assad step down before any political transition can get underway. But its allies — Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar — have not come around to that point of view, and neither have the Syrian opposition politicians and insurgents they back. The United States has signaled that it is looking for common ground with Russia and is ready to soften its insistence that Mr. Assad step down before any political transition can commence. But the American allies — Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar — have not embraced that compromise. Nor have the Syrian opposition politicians and insurgents that they support.
The opposition delegates were announced by Riad Hijab, who leads the opposition council that met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, late last year in an attempt to unite behind a set of principles and negotiators. He has maintained that it makes little sense to negotiate a political settlement before sieges are lifted and humanitarian aid can get through. The opposition delegates were announced by Riad Hijab, who leads the opposition council that met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, late last year in an attempt to unite behind common principles and negotiators. He has maintained that it makes little sense to negotiate a political settlement before sieges are lifted and humanitarian aid can be delivered.
The sticking point is that the Russians want to add more opposition names to the negotiations — ones more to their liking, which means more supportive of the Assad government. On Monday, though, Mr. Hijab declared flatly that the council’s delegates would not attend the talks if any other set of opposition delegates was included. The Russians want to add more opposition names to the negotiations — ones more to their liking, which means more supportive of the Assad government. On Monday, though, Mr. Hijab declared that the council’s delegates would not attend the talks if any other set of opposition delegates were included.
George Sabra, a Christian dissident who was also named to the council’s negotiating team, told the opposition channel Orient TV that “no country or side” could interfere with Syrians’ right “to propose whoever they want to represent them, and no one has the authority to put forward any names other than the council.”George Sabra, a Christian dissident who was also named to the council’s negotiating team, told the opposition channel Orient TV that “no country or side” could interfere with Syrians’ right “to propose whoever they want to represent them, and no one has the authority to put forward any names other than the council.”
The opposition council is backed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, which have supported both exile politicians and armed insurgents. Yet other opposition figures are also seeking to attend, some with the backing of Russia.
The United States has also expressed strong support for the opposition council, which officials refer to as the High Negotiating Committee. Among them are Kadri Jamil, who recently served in Mr. Assad’s cabinet and is seen by many antigovernment Syrians as a tolerated “house opposition” figure, and a longtime dissident, Haytham Manaa, who served many years in Syrian prisons but was long skeptical of the armed insurgency. They also include representatives of the Kurdish groups that have established a semiautonomous zone in northeast Syria.
“As we said after Riyadh, the opposition will be represented at that meeting by delegates chosen from the High Negotiating Committee and only from the High Negotiating Committee,” the State Department spokesman, John Kirby, said Tuesday. Adding to the complications, Turkey, facing a Kurdish insurgency in its east, is likely to object to any Kurdish representation.
But other opposition figures are also seeking to attend, some of them with the backing of Russia. The diplomatic maneuvering came as American’s top general said that the Russian airstrikes against Mr. Assad’s opponents had stabilized his government. The assertion, by Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reinforced concern among American officials that Mr. Assad may feel strengthened in any peace talks.
Among those are Kadri Jamil, who recently served in Mr. Assad’s cabinet and is seen by many antigovernment Syrians as a tolerated “house opposition” figure, and a longtime dissident, Haytham Manaa, who served many years in Syrian prisons but was long skeptical of the armed insurgency. They also include representatives of the Kurdish groups that have established a semiautonomous zone in the northeast. Speaking to reporters accompanying him to a NATO meeting in Brussels, General Dunford also said Russia’s entry into the battlefield last September had not changed how the American military was proceeding in Syria. He said the American-led coalition battling the Islamic State there and in Iraq had made significant gains, retaking an important dam on the Euphrates River and a large stretch of territory north of Raqqa, Syria, the militant group’s stronghold.
Adding to the complications, Turkey, facing a nascent Kurdish insurgency in its east, is likely to object vociferously to any Kurdish representation, especially from the Y.P.G., which Turkey considers a terrorist group. General Dunford said the campaign was well underway to isolate Raqqa from other Islamic State-controlled territory — and in particular Mosul, the large Iraqi city seized by the militants in 2014.
And with at least 400,000 Syrians living under siege, without regular access to food or medicine, the conversation has shifted away from politics to humanitarian emergencies, as the United Nations seeks to build confidence by facilitating negotiations for aid access that should be a given under international law. But the American military also displayed its concern on Wednesday about the adequacy and stamina of the multinational effort to defeat the Islamic State.
Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said the United States would convene a meeting next month of defense ministers from the 27 countries participating in the campaign to discuss how each member could do more.
“Every nation must come prepared to further contributions to the fight,” Mr. Carter told reporters at a news conference in Paris with the French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian. “And I will not hesitate to engage and challenge current and prospective members of the coalition as we go forward.”