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Syria Will Continue Geneva Peace Talks Assad Officials to Continue Peace Talks as Evacuation Begins in Besieged City
(about 3 hours later)
ISTANBUL — The Syrian government said on Friday that it would continue to participate in the Geneva talks aimed at ending the country’s civil war, as civilians trapped in a rebel-controlled part of Homs waited to see if a deal to allow them to leave would be carried out. ISTANBUL — The Syrian government announced on Friday that it would participate in next round of Geneva peace talks aimed at ending the country’s civil war, as civilians trapped in a rebel-controlled part of Homs, one of the conflict’s urban epicenters, began trickling out under a deal negotiated by the United Nations.
In a statement to Syrian state news media, Faisal Mekdad, the deputy foreign minister, said that the government’s delegation would return to Geneva for the resumption of talks with the exile opposition on Monday. Syria’s official SANA news agency said at least 58 people, mostly women, children and the elderly, had departed the besieged Old City neighborhood of Homs by midafternoon. Syrian state television broadcast images of frail civilians escorted onto a bus by members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. Vehicles from the United Nations refugee agency and World Food Program could also be seen.
The first round of the talks, which are backed by the United Nations and a number of countries including the United States and Russia, concluded last week without tangible progress toward stopping the war that has killed more than 130,000 people and created millions of refugees. The Homs governor, Talal al-Barazi, was quoted by SANA as saying he expected 200 civilians to be evacuated by day’s end and that he had reached an agreement with the United Nations to allow aid deliveries inside the besieged area to those who chose to remain.
Precisely when the aid would be allowed into the area, where about 2,500 civilians have been trapped along with an unknown number of fighters, remained unclear. But in an interview with Syrian state television, Yacoub El Hillo, the United Nations official who was overseeing the evacuation process, said it would continue in the coming days and that he expected aid distribution to start on Saturday.
The emergence of at least some of the trapped civilians reflected the first tangible result of intense international diplomacy and pressure on the antagonists in Homs, one of the incubators of the 2011 political protests and insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad that has since morphed into a grinding civil war that has left at least 130,000 people dead.
The Foreign Ministry of Russia, Mr. Assad’s biggest foreign ally in the conflict, said Friday that its embassy in Damascus had helped the United Nations broker a three-day cease-fire for the Homs evacuation, and that women, children, men older than 55 and the wounded would be free to leave.
An anti-government activist in the Old City neighborhood reached by telephone, who gave only his first name, Ahmed, said that one of the elderly male evacuees had been shot in the stomach by a sniper as he was on his way to a bus and had to be stabilized at a hospital before he was evacuated. “The situation is very tense,” Ahmed said.
United Nations officials first reported on Thursday that the agreement had been reached to provide some humanitarian relief in Homs. But even with the deal moving forward on Friday, the Syrian opposition has remained skeptical about the government’s intentions toward the armed insurgents inside Homs, after the civilians who want to leave have departed.
Western diplomats have said they believe between 500 and 700 civilians want to be evacuated and at least 80 are wounded.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped and desperate in other besieged areas of Syria. Efforts by the United Nations and rights groups to provide them with humanitarian emergency food and medicine have largely been thwarted so far, resulting in accusations that President Assad is attempting to starve the insurgency into submission.
The first round of peace talks between the government and exile opposition sides, which concluded in Geneva last week, failed to even reach an accord on the humanitarian aid issue.
But in a statement to Syrian state news media on Friday, Faisal Mekdad, the deputy foreign minister, said that the government’s delegation would return to Geneva for the resumption of talks on Monday.
The talks are sponsored by the United Nations and backed by a number of countries including the United States and Russia.
The United States and the opposition coalition insist that the goal of the talks is to get the sides to agree on the members of a “transitional governing body” to run the country, as is called for in the United Nations communiqué outlining the talks.The United States and the opposition coalition insist that the goal of the talks is to get the sides to agree on the members of a “transitional governing body” to run the country, as is called for in the United Nations communiqué outlining the talks.
The Syrian government, however, has insisted that the talks focus on fighting terrorism. While Islamists and extremists, including one Al Qaeda affiliate, have risen to prominence among the rebel forces inside the country, the government dismisses all resistance to its rule as “terrorism.”The Syrian government, however, has insisted that the talks focus on fighting terrorism. While Islamists and extremists, including one Al Qaeda affiliate, have risen to prominence among the rebel forces inside the country, the government dismisses all resistance to its rule as “terrorism.”
In announcing the government’s participation, Mr. Mekdad said its delegation was willing to discuss the communiqué “article by article” and that the talks should seek to “protect the lives of Syrians and stop the bloodshed by the armed terrorist groups and their regional and international supporters.”In announcing the government’s participation, Mr. Mekdad said its delegation was willing to discuss the communiqué “article by article” and that the talks should seek to “protect the lives of Syrians and stop the bloodshed by the armed terrorist groups and their regional and international supporters.”
Officials involved in the talks acknowledge that the possibility of an imminent breakthrough in the talks is low, largely because there are few levers that President Bashar al-Assad’s opponents can use to force his government to surrender power. Officials involved in the talks acknowledge that the possibility of an imminent breakthrough in the talks is low, largely because there are few levers that President Assad’s opponents can use to force his government to surrender power.
Mr. Assad’s military has a firm grip on the capital and much of the country’s center, while rebel forces lack unity and have become increasingly bogged down in clashes with an extremist group that has grown in their midst.Mr. Assad’s military has a firm grip on the capital and much of the country’s center, while rebel forces lack unity and have become increasingly bogged down in clashes with an extremist group that has grown in their midst.
The Syrian government has also questioned the opposition’s ability to deliver any deal that might be reached. The government says the opposition delegation lacks control over the fighting forces inside Syria and represents only a slice of the anti-Assad groups outside the country.The Syrian government has also questioned the opposition’s ability to deliver any deal that might be reached. The government says the opposition delegation lacks control over the fighting forces inside Syria and represents only a slice of the anti-Assad groups outside the country.
Western officials have suggested that getting the parties to talk could lead to other benefits, like local cease-fires or increased access for humanitarian aid.
On Friday, residents of a besieged area of the central city of Homs were waiting to see whether an agreement between the government and the United Nations to let some civilians leave and aid to be delivered would be carried out.
The governor of Homs Province, Talal al-Barazi, said the government had made all the necessary arrangements to evacuate women, children and the elderly from besieged parts of Old Homs, according to the Syrian state news agency, SANA.
Mr. Barazi said it was expected that 200 civilians would be the first to leave and that he had reached an agreement with the United Nations to allow aid deliveries inside the besieged area to those who chose to remain.
The Russia Foreign Ministry said on Friday that its embassy in Damascus had helped broker a three-day cease-fire in Homs, Reuters reported.
American and United Nations officials reported the agreement on Thursday and a State Department spokeswoman said it was to begin on Friday with a “humanitarian pause” to allow the evacuation of civilians and the delivery of aid. The United Nations said that it had food, medical supplies and other aid waiting nearby once the deal took effect.
It was unclear when the cease-fire was to begin.
An opposition activist named Khodair Khashfah in Homs said the agreement was meant to allow civilians to move to safer areas without being arrested by the government, for aid to be delivered in rebel-held areas, and for wounded and sick people to be taken to hospitals.
“We are waiting for this deal to go through,” Mr. Khashfah said through Skype, adding that government and aid trucks were still waiting outside the Old City.
About 2,500 Syrians are believed to be trapped in the Old City of Homs, and about 500 to 700 of them want to be evacuated, including 80 who are said to be injured, Western diplomats have said.