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Syria Willing to Talk with Armed Opponents, Foreign Minister Says
Kerry Vows Not to Leave Syria Rebels ‘Dangling in the Wind’
(about 4 hours later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syria’s government is willing to hold talks with members of the armed opposition on ending the country’s nearly two-year-old civil war, the Syrian foreign minister said on Monday.
BERLIN — Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that the Obama administration has been considering new steps to increase support for the Syrian opposition and hasten the departure of President Bashar al-Assad and that some of them would be decided at an international conference in Rome this week.
It was the first time that a high-ranking Syrian official had signaled that the government is open to talking with Syrian rebels who have taken up weapons against the armed forces. Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, called in January for talks to resolve the conflict, but appeared to rule out dialogue with armed opponents.
“We are determined that the Syrian opposition is not going to be dangling in the wind wondering where the support is or if it’s coming,” Mr. Kerry said at a news conference in London. “And we are determined to change the calculation on the ground for President Assad.”
The foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, made the statement during a visit to Russia, the Syrian government’s main international backer, which has been pressing for talks to resolve a conflict that has claimed an estimated 70,000 lives, sent hundreds of thousands of refugees into neighboring countries and threatened to destabilize the Middle East. Some of the worst mayhem came last week, when multiple bombings hit government targets in Damascus and at least two Scud missile attacks hit rebel-held areas of Aleppo.
Mr. Kerry’s comments came amid diplomatic maneuvering and some drama over the Rome meeting, scheduled for Thursday.
“We are ready for a dialogue with anyone who’s willing, even with those who carry arms,” Mr. Moallem was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.
After the Syrian opposition signaled that it would boycott the Rome conference to protest what it sees as negligible help from Western nations, Mr. Kerry called Moaz al-Khatib, the leader of the Syrian opposition coalition, and persuaded him to attend.
It was unclear whether Mr. Moallem’s offer came with unspoken caveats, such as a precondition that the armed rebels must disarm first, which would essentially make it the same as President Assad’s proposal. Syria’s main political opposition leader, Sheik Moaz al-Khatib did not immediately respond to it.
American officials have said that their goal in supporting the Syrian resistance is to build up its leverage in the hope that Mr. Assad will agree to yield power and a political transition can be negotiated to end the nearly two-year-old conflict.
The offer also coincided with the first visit abroad by the new American secretary of state, John Kerry, who has been urging Sheik Khatib and other Syrian opposition leaders to meet with him in Rome on Thursday. Sheik Khatib, the head of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, agreed late on Monday to attend after receiving a telephone call from Mr. Kerry, Sheik Khatib’s group announced.
In Moscow, however, Syria’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, appeared to be making a competing initiative. In a statement during a visit to Russia, which has been one of the Assad government’s main backers, Mr. Moallem said that Syrian authorities were “ready for a dialogue with anyone who’s willing, even with those who carry arms.”
Mr. Kerry has indicated that the United States is prepared to take new steps that could include additional assistance for the Syrian opposition. Although Washington has so far been unwilling to give the rebels weapons, Mr. Kerry said the Syrian opposition would not be left “dangling in the wind.”
It was the first time that a high-ranking Syrian official had signaled that the government is open to talking with Syrian rebels who have taken up weapons against the armed forces.
He cast immediate doubt on Mr. Moallem’s offer during a visit to London, the first stop in a nine-nation tour. “It seems to me that it’s pretty hard to understand how, when you see the Scuds falling on the innocent people of Aleppo, it is possible to take their notion that they are ready to have a dialogue very seriously,” Mr. Kerry told reporters.
It was unclear whether Mr. Moallem’s offer came with caveats, such as a precondition that the Syrian rebels must disarm first. More fundamentally, if the aim of Mr. Moallem’s offer was to achieve a cease-fire while perpetuating Mr. Assad’s hold on power it would be fundamentally at odds with the demand of the opposition that the Syrian leader must be ousted.
Andrew J. Tabler, a Syria expert and senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said he believed Mr. Moallem’s offer may have been a tactical maneuver designed to exploit divisions among the Syrian opposition on whether to even negotiate with Mr. Assad’s government, which has dismissed opposition demands that it resign as part of any solution.
Mr. Kerry, for his part, was skeptical of Mr. Moallem’s intentions as well.
“There are no details about what this would be a negotiation about, and here I think the regime sees it as a way to get a cease-fire, not a transition,” Mr. Tabler said in an e-mail message. “Such a gesture is way too late.”
“What has happened in Aleppo in the last days is unacceptable,” Mr. Kerry said, referring to the Scud missile attacks the Assad government directed at the city last week. “It’s pretty hard to understand how, when you see these Scuds falling on the innocent people of Aleppo, it’s possible to take their notion that they’re ready to have a dialogue very seriously.”
Mr. Moallem’s offer came two opposition figures said that Sheik Khatib had already met quietly on at least one recent occasion with a prominent Syrian businessman with close ties to Mr. Assad, apparently in an effort to explore channels for discussion.
London was the first stop on Mr. Kerry’s nine-nation tour and Syria figured prominently in his discussions with William Hague, the British foreign secretary, who reinforced the message that more had to done to support the Syrian opposition because the possibility of a political solution was “blocked off.”
Still, Syrian opposition leaders gave conflicting signals on Monday on the future of any talks with members of Mr. Assad’s government.
“Our policy cannot stay static as the weeks go by,” Mr. Hague said at a joint news conference with Mr. Kerry. “It will have to change and develop.”
The rebels’ top military leader, Gen. Selim Idriss, seemed to harden the opposition’s position, ruling out any negotiations until after Mr. Assad steps down — a precondition the Syrian government and Russia have consistently rejected. But Sheik Khatib said his offer to talk with members of the government without “blood on their hands” remained on the table, although he criticized what he called the Syrian government’s slowness to respond.
The European Union agreed to a British proposal that nonlethal assistance could be sent to armed groups inside Syria. Discussions were now under way among European nations to determine just what sort of aid could be sent, but some American officials had said it might include night-vision equipment or armored cars.
Russia declared last week that it would work with the Arab League to bring about direct talks between the government and the rebels, and Mr. Moallem was meeting in Moscow on Monday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov.
Mr. Kerry declined to say whether the United States would also be willing to send nonlethal assistance to armed factions fighting Mr. Assad, saying that a variety of ideas was under discussion.
General Idriss, the leader of the Free Syrian Army, the main rebel fighter group, said that a cessation of violence by the government was “the bottom line” for rebels ahead of any talks. In remarks to Al-Arabyia, a Saudi-backed news Web site, General Idriss also said “There needs to be a clear decision on the resignation of the head of the criminal gang Bashar Assad, and for those who participated in the killing of the Syrian people to be put on trial.”
“We are not coming to Rome simply to talk,” he said. “We are coming to Rome to make a decision about next steps and perhaps even other options that may or may not be discussed further after that.”
The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, led by Sheik Khatib, had long insisted on Mr. Assad’s departure as a precondition for talks, but on Jan. 30, Sheik Khatib floated the idea of negotiations with members of the government not directly involved in the bloody crackdown.
Mr. Obama last year rebuffed a proposal from the C.I.A., State Department and Pentagon that the United States train and arm a cadre of Syrian rebel fighters.
On Friday after meetings in Cairo, the coalition adopted a written framework for talks that stopped short of calling for Mr. Assad to step down. It called for Mr. Assad and others involved in the killing to be “held accountable for their crimes” and declaring that they “will not be a part of this political solution.”
After his meetings in Britain, Mr. Kerry flew to Germany for meetings on Tuesday with German officials and Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister.
But many in the coalition remain skeptical of talks with the government and see them as a way for Mr. Assad to buy time, and are frustrated that the rebels are under pressure to compromise amid what they see as insufficient international support.
The United States has sought Russia’s help in facilitating talks on a transitional government in Syria, but the American effort to reach out to the Russians failed last year when the Kremlin balked at the demand that Mr. Assad’s departure had to be one of the results of any negotiation.
Among the factions of the Syrian coalition, the debate is not over whether Mr. Assad must go but whether his departure is a precondition for talks.
On Jan. 30, Sheik Khatib floated the idea of negotiations with members of the government not directly involved in the crackdown. But many in the coalition remain skeptical of talks with the government and see them as a way for Mr. Assad to buy time.
On Monday, Samir Nachar, a member of the coalition, said that Sheik Khatib had met in the past week with Muhammad Hamsho, a prominent Syrian businessman who is close to Maher al-Assad, the president’s brother who leads the army’s feared Fourth Division, and a frontman for many Assad family enterprises.
On Monday, Samir Nachar, a member of the coalition, said that Sheik Khatib had met in the past week with Muhammad Hamsho, a prominent Syrian businessman who is close to Maher al-Assad, the president’s brother who leads the army’s feared Fourth Division, and a frontman for many Assad family enterprises.
News of the meeting, which surfaced in the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, prompted a new round of criticism in some opposition quarters of Sheik Khatib. The newspaper quoted Faiek al-Meer, a member of the banned opposition Democratic People’s Party, as saying that Sheik Khatib had met with Mr. Hamsho without telling other coalition members.
Mr. Nachar said that Sheik Khatib had briefed him and other coalition members on the recent meeting, which he said had been initiated by Mr. Hamsho.
Mr. Nachar said that Sheik Khatib had briefed him and other coalition members on the recent meeting, which he said had been initiated by Mr. Hamsho.
“Hamsho asked to meet Moaz al-Khatib and the latter agreed,” Mr. Nachar said in an interview. “The meeting did take place, yes. Al-Khatib was straightforward about it place but he refrained from going into details.”
“Hamsho asked to meet Moaz al-Khatib and the latter agreed,” Mr. Nachar said in an interview. “The meeting did take place, yes.” He said Sheik Khatib had refrained from going into detail.
Mr. Hamsho is one of several Syrian figures on whom the United States Treasury Department has imposed sanctions since Mr. Assad’s harsh crackdown on a peaceful protest movement that began in March 2011 and has since evolved into a civil war.
Mr. Hamsho is one of several Syrian figures on whom the United States has imposed sanctions since Mr. Assad’s repression of a peaceful protest movement that began in March 2011 and has since evolved into a civil war.
“Muhammad Hamsho earned his fortune through his connections to regime insiders, and during the current unrest, he has cast his lot with Bashar al-Asad, Mahir al-Asad and others responsible for the Syrian government’s violence and intimidation against the Syrian people,” David S. Cohen, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement in August 2011.
Gen. Selim Idriss, the leader of the Free Syrian Army, the main rebel fighter group, said that a cessation of violence by the government was “the bottom line” for rebels before any talks. In remarks to Al-Arabyia, a Saudi-backed news Web site, he also said, “There needs to be a clear decision on the resignation of the head of the criminal gang Bashar Assad, and for those who participated in the killing of the Syrian people to be put on trial.”
Sheik Khatib did not directly address the issue, but posted a message on his personal Facebook page cautioning against rumors.
Michael
R. Gordon reported from Berlin, and Anne Barnard from Beirut, Lebanon. Hania Mourtada contributed reporting from Beirut, and Rick Gladstone from New York.
Sheik Khatib told reporters in Cairo that he had not had any contacts with the Syrian government about potential meetings. He said that he would postpone a planned visit to Moscow “until we see how things develop,” The Associated Press reported.
He added, “We are always open to initiatives that stop the killing and destruction but the regime rejected the simplest of humanitarian conditions. We have asked that the regime start by releasing women prisoners and there was no response,” he said. “This regime must understand that the Syrian people do not want it anymore.”
Reporting was contributed by Hania Mourtada from Beirut, Michael R. Gordon from London and Rick Gladstone from New York.
