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| Russia Presents Draft Plan to U.N. on Aid to Syria | Russia Presents Draft Plan to U.N. on Aid to Syria |
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| GENEVA — After rejecting a United States-backed draft resolution on humanitarian aid access in Syria, Russia presented its own version to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, one that includes calls to condemn “terrorism” in the conflict, Reuters reported, quoting Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov. | |
| “Terrorism is certainly no less acute a problem” than the need for aid access to blockaded areas in Syria, Mr. Lavrov said, adding that Russia’s draft laid out “our vision of the role the Security Council can play if we want to foster a solution to the problems and not antagonize one side or the other.” | “Terrorism is certainly no less acute a problem” than the need for aid access to blockaded areas in Syria, Mr. Lavrov said, adding that Russia’s draft laid out “our vision of the role the Security Council can play if we want to foster a solution to the problems and not antagonize one side or the other.” |
| The wrangling over the wording of the resolution reflects the central dispute hampering peace talks here. The Syrian government’s delegation insists on discussing only the fight against terrorism in Syria, while the Syrian opposition and the United Nations mediator, Lakhdar Brahimi, are pushing to discuss, perhaps in parallel, the formation of a transitional governing body for Syria. | The wrangling over the wording of the resolution reflects the central dispute hampering peace talks here. The Syrian government’s delegation insists on discussing only the fight against terrorism in Syria, while the Syrian opposition and the United Nations mediator, Lakhdar Brahimi, are pushing to discuss, perhaps in parallel, the formation of a transitional governing body for Syria. |
| The founding document of the peace talks, the June 2012 Geneva I communiqué, does not mention the word terrorism, but calls for all sides to end violence. Since it was drafted, suicide bombs and other attacks on civilians by extremist jihadist groups have become a much larger problem in the Syrian conflict, with both the government and the exiled opposition coalition claiming that their allies on the ground are the ones leading the fight against extremist violence. | The founding document of the peace talks, the June 2012 Geneva I communiqué, does not mention the word terrorism, but calls for all sides to end violence. Since it was drafted, suicide bombs and other attacks on civilians by extremist jihadist groups have become a much larger problem in the Syrian conflict, with both the government and the exiled opposition coalition claiming that their allies on the ground are the ones leading the fight against extremist violence. |
| A sticking point is the question of how terrorism is defined. The government has often used the term to describe all armed resistance to its rule, so the opposition is loath to frame the discussion as a fight against “terrorism” that, to the government, might mean defeating the opposition fighters that the exile coalition supports. | |
| As talks here paused in anticipation of trilateral meetings between the main sponsors — the United States, Russia and the United Nations — fighting intensified in Syria. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an antigovernment group based in Britain that tracks the conflict through networks on the ground, nearly 5,000 people have died in Syria in the three weeks since the meetings began in Geneva. The Observatory has called that death toll the highest of the nearly three-year conflict. | As talks here paused in anticipation of trilateral meetings between the main sponsors — the United States, Russia and the United Nations — fighting intensified in Syria. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an antigovernment group based in Britain that tracks the conflict through networks on the ground, nearly 5,000 people have died in Syria in the three weeks since the meetings began in Geneva. The Observatory has called that death toll the highest of the nearly three-year conflict. |
| Fighting intensified in the Qalamoun area along the Lebanese border on Thursday. Antigovernment fighters reported a new development for that area, the use of so-called barrel bombs — large payloads of explosives often dropped from helicopters — on the town of Yabroud. The town is a rebel stronghold that long ruled itself but has come under fire during a government offensive that has taken back other towns in the mountainous area. | Fighting intensified in the Qalamoun area along the Lebanese border on Thursday. Antigovernment fighters reported a new development for that area, the use of so-called barrel bombs — large payloads of explosives often dropped from helicopters — on the town of Yabroud. The town is a rebel stronghold that long ruled itself but has come under fire during a government offensive that has taken back other towns in the mountainous area. |
| Abu al-Majd, a rebel leader in the area, said by telephone that many civilians had left the area, heading to the Lebanese border town of Arsal or to the Syrian capital, Damascus, depending on where they felt most secure. He said that government reinforcements, including 20 tanks, were arriving on the outskirts of Yabroud from Damascus and the western city of Homs, backed by fighters from the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. In recent days, more than 50 aerial bombardments have hit Yabroud, fighters said. | Abu al-Majd, a rebel leader in the area, said by telephone that many civilians had left the area, heading to the Lebanese border town of Arsal or to the Syrian capital, Damascus, depending on where they felt most secure. He said that government reinforcements, including 20 tanks, were arriving on the outskirts of Yabroud from Damascus and the western city of Homs, backed by fighters from the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. In recent days, more than 50 aerial bombardments have hit Yabroud, fighters said. |
| In the northern city of Aleppo, 51 people, including 13 rebel fighters, were killed by government bombardments, according to the Observatory. The flow of refugees from Aleppo heading for the Turkish border has intensified during weeks of barrel-bomb attacks there, according to aid workers near the border. | In the northern city of Aleppo, 51 people, including 13 rebel fighters, were killed by government bombardments, according to the Observatory. The flow of refugees from Aleppo heading for the Turkish border has intensified during weeks of barrel-bomb attacks there, according to aid workers near the border. |
| In Geneva, the halls of the United Nations headquarters were quiet Thursday morning and no meeting was held between the two Syrian sides. Instead, senior Russian and American officials were set to meet Thursday afternoon with Mr. Brahimi in an attempt to find common ground that could allow them to push their respective allies toward progress in the stalled talks. | In Geneva, the halls of the United Nations headquarters were quiet Thursday morning and no meeting was held between the two Syrian sides. Instead, senior Russian and American officials were set to meet Thursday afternoon with Mr. Brahimi in an attempt to find common ground that could allow them to push their respective allies toward progress in the stalled talks. |
| The extent of Moscow’s leverage with the Syrian government is a matter of conjecture, but diplomats believe that as a co-signer of the Geneva communiqué that calls for setting up a transitional government in Syria, it does not want to see the government team walk away from negotiations. | The extent of Moscow’s leverage with the Syrian government is a matter of conjecture, but diplomats believe that as a co-signer of the Geneva communiqué that calls for setting up a transitional government in Syria, it does not want to see the government team walk away from negotiations. |
| In Syria, the governor of Homs told Reuters that a cease-fire there that began Friday to allow aid access to blockaded neighborhoods had been extended for an additional three days. | In Syria, the governor of Homs told Reuters that a cease-fire there that began Friday to allow aid access to blockaded neighborhoods had been extended for an additional three days. |
| The governor, Talal al-Barazi, said that 1,400 people had been evacuated from the besieged Old City since Friday, when the United Nations-brokered cease-fire began. But he said 220 were still being held for questioning. United Nations monitors have been present for the questioning, according to United States officials, who called for continued international attention to make sure those detained — mainly males considered to be of fighting age — do not disappear into indefinite detention. | The governor, Talal al-Barazi, said that 1,400 people had been evacuated from the besieged Old City since Friday, when the United Nations-brokered cease-fire began. But he said 220 were still being held for questioning. United Nations monitors have been present for the questioning, according to United States officials, who called for continued international attention to make sure those detained — mainly males considered to be of fighting age — do not disappear into indefinite detention. |
| The so-called humanitarian pause in Homs, so far the only concrete achievement of the Geneva talks, has been controversial. Some government supporters say it amounts to feeding enemies, and opponents contend that it is a government scheme to displace or imprison residents and then obliterate whoever and whatever remains. | The so-called humanitarian pause in Homs, so far the only concrete achievement of the Geneva talks, has been controversial. Some government supporters say it amounts to feeding enemies, and opponents contend that it is a government scheme to displace or imprison residents and then obliterate whoever and whatever remains. |
| Diplomatic pressure is building to allow humanitarian agencies to deliver aid to more than six million Syrians in need of support after nearly three years of brutal conflict, including a quarter of a million people believed to be trapped in besieged areas. | Diplomatic pressure is building to allow humanitarian agencies to deliver aid to more than six million Syrians in need of support after nearly three years of brutal conflict, including a quarter of a million people believed to be trapped in besieged areas. |
| The United Nations’ chief aid coordinator, Valerie Amos, was scheduled to report to the Security Council on Thursday and was expected to call for more pressure on government forces and rebels to stop blocking aid deliveries. | The United Nations’ chief aid coordinator, Valerie Amos, was scheduled to report to the Security Council on Thursday and was expected to call for more pressure on government forces and rebels to stop blocking aid deliveries. |
| On Wednesday, at a separate meeting of the Council, Ms. Amos issued some of her strongest comments so far. “The use of siege as a weapon of war is particularly heinous,” she told the Council. She also suggested in a message on Twitter that the Council’s presidential statement, passed last fall, urging the warring parties to permit aid deliveries, had been flouted. “Int’l exhortations, including from #UNSC, go unheeded,” she said. | On Wednesday, at a separate meeting of the Council, Ms. Amos issued some of her strongest comments so far. “The use of siege as a weapon of war is particularly heinous,” she told the Council. She also suggested in a message on Twitter that the Council’s presidential statement, passed last fall, urging the warring parties to permit aid deliveries, had been flouted. “Int’l exhortations, including from #UNSC, go unheeded,” she said. |