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| Syria Peace Talks Are Halted 2 Days After Starting | Syria Peace Talks Are Halted 2 Days After Starting |
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| GENEVA — Just two days after declaring an official start to a new round of talks on Syria, the United Nations mediator said Wednesday that he was suspending the process for three weeks because of a lack of progress. | |
| The mediator, Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy for Syria, has been trying to coax President Bashar al-Assad’s government and opposition forces to discuss an end to five years of war that have killed at least 250,000 people and sent another four million into exile. | The mediator, Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy for Syria, has been trying to coax President Bashar al-Assad’s government and opposition forces to discuss an end to five years of war that have killed at least 250,000 people and sent another four million into exile. |
| But the continued fighting in Syria, where government forces backed by heavy Russian airstrikes conducted an offensive around the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday, has derailed the nascent discussions before any of the immediate issues could be addressed. | |
| The United Nations talks — the first since 2014 — were initially aimed at achieving a cease-fire and arranging for a gradual political transition, including elections. The ambitions have since been ratcheted down to more basic goals, like providing food and medicine to starving and injured civilians in besieged areas. | |
| The parties to the talks have not even managed to agree on who should participate in them — and in particular, on who gets to represent the opposition to Mr. Assad’s government. | |
| A visibly frustrated Mr. de Mistura said he was suspending the talks until Feb. 25. | A visibly frustrated Mr. de Mistura said he was suspending the talks until Feb. 25. |
| “I have to be honest, to say it is time now for a pause,” Mr. de Mistura told reporters here, after informing the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, of his decision. “I have concluded, frankly, that after the first week of preparatory talks there is more work to be done, not only by us but by the stakeholders.” | “I have to be honest, to say it is time now for a pause,” Mr. de Mistura told reporters here, after informing the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, of his decision. “I have concluded, frankly, that after the first week of preparatory talks there is more work to be done, not only by us but by the stakeholders.” |
| Mr. de Mistura’s action comes after a series of separate preliminary discussions with a Syrian government delegation and members of the opposition’s Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee failed to find a sufficient basis for indirect negotiations. | |
| “I’m not frustrated, I’m not disappointed,” Mr. de Mistura said, “you have to be determined and realistic.” | “I’m not frustrated, I’m not disappointed,” Mr. de Mistura said, “you have to be determined and realistic.” |
| “I’m not prepared to have talks for the sake of talks,” he added. | “I’m not prepared to have talks for the sake of talks,” he added. |
| Mr. de Mistura said that before he issued invitations to these talks, he had demanded action to address the humanitarian crisis in Syria and had been reassured they would take place. “Well, I have been hearing from the government that they had some procedural issues” before they could talk about the humanitarian side of the conflict, he said. | |
| Opposition delegates had insisted on an end to bombings by government forces and their allies, progress on a range of humanitarian issues including the lifting sieges to allow for deliveries of aid, and the release of prisoners, as nonnegotiable conditions for progressing to political discussions. | |
| Riad Hijab, a member of the negotiations council, said Wednesday that the government was not serious about the talks and had stepped up its attacks. | |
| “Assad and his allies have intensified their shelling to coincide with the launch of the Geneva meeting,” he said, adding that Russian forces in support of Mr. Assad had struck the northern city of Aleppo the day before. | |
| Mr. de Mistura’s inability to make headway with the government delegation on humanitarian issues came as a major offensive by government forces around the northern city of Aleppo made strategic gains, supported by Russian airstrikes on a scale the opposition described as unprecedented. | Mr. de Mistura’s inability to make headway with the government delegation on humanitarian issues came as a major offensive by government forces around the northern city of Aleppo made strategic gains, supported by Russian airstrikes on a scale the opposition described as unprecedented. |
| The United Nations Security Council and the international group of 17 states directly involved in supporting parties to the conflict now needed to address the issues obstructing negotiations and in particular what difference the peace talks are going to make to the Syrian people, Mr. de Mistura said. | The United Nations Security Council and the international group of 17 states directly involved in supporting parties to the conflict now needed to address the issues obstructing negotiations and in particular what difference the peace talks are going to make to the Syrian people, Mr. de Mistura said. |