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Russia Presents Draft Plan to U.N. on Aid to Syria U.S. and Russian Diplomats Confer With Syria Mediator
(about 4 hours later)
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. GENEVA — Senior Russian and American diplomats conferred with the United Nations mediator Lakhdar Brahimi on Thursday in a bid to revive Syrian peace talks that have become paralyzed by wrangling between Syrian government and opposition delegates.
“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.” But if the two powers have a common purpose in Geneva, the circumstances hardly look propitious. Mr. Brahimi’s consultations with Gennady Gatilov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, and Wendy R. Sherman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, came as intense fighting in Syria caused a spike in casualties and a new flood of refugees. And at the United Nations, Russia and the United States squared off in the Security Council over a resolution intended to permit relief agencies to deliver humanitarian aid to starving and war-battered civilians.
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. Mr. Gatilov and Ms. Sherman will meet respectively with Syrian government and opposition delegates to the talks, and Mr. Gatilov may also meet the opposition. But hopes that the three diplomats would be able to hold a joint session with both of the warring parties in a bid to inject some momentum into the Geneva process look set to be disappointed.
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 Syrian government team, led by Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, has rejected the idea, an official following the talks said.
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. That would be consistent with the government delegates’ stubborn insistence on having the talks focus on terrorism, which has become the main sticking point. 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. It wants instead to talk about political transition, a proposition dismissed by the government’s spokesmen this week as “a recipe for disaster.”
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. That divergence has spilled over to the Security Council, where Russia has rejected an American-backed resolution threatening sanctions against anyone obstructing humanitarian aid deliveries and has submitted its own draft resolution combining the issue of humanitarian aid with calls to condemn terrorism.
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. “Terrorism is certainly no less acute a problem” than the need for aid access to blockaded areas in Syria, said the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, 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.”
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. As talks here paused awaiting the outcome of trilateral meetings, fighting intensified in Syria. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-government group based in Britain that tracks the conflict through networks on the ground, nearly 5,000 people have died in Syria in three weeks since the meetings began in Geneva. The Observatory has called the death toll during that period the highest during the nearly three-year conflict.
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. Fighting intensified in the Qalamoun area along the Lebanese border on Thursday. Anti-government fighters reported a new development there, the use of so-called barrel bombs, or large payloads of TNT often dropped from helicopters, on the town of Yabroud. The town is a rebel stronghold that had long ruled itself but has come under fire during a government offensive that has taken back other towns in the mountainous area.
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. 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 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 Homs, backed by fighters from the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. In recent days, more than 50 aerial bombardments have hit Yabroud, fighters said.
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 the northern city of Aleppo, 51 people, including 13 rebel fighters, were killed during a government bombardment of the city. The flow of people fleeing Aleppo for the Turkish border has intensified during weeks of heavy barrel-bomb bombardment there, according to aid workers near the border.
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 the central city 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 last Friday, when the United Nations-brokered cease-fire began. But he said 220 were still detained for questioning. United Nations monitors have been present for the questioning, according to American 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 drawn criticism from all sides. Some government supporters say it amounts to feeding their enemies, and opponents contend 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, is scheduled to report to the Security Council on Thursday and is 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.