Syria peace talks: Opposition likely to drop boycott threat and attend Geneva negotiations

The Syrian opposition signalled that it would attend peace talks in Geneva despite threats of a boycott.

Salim al-Muslat, a spokesman for the Western-backed opposition delegation, revealed that a final decision would be reached on Wednesday at a meeting in Riyadh, but said that there was a “consensus” that the group should attend negotiations to end a conflict of almost five years.

The UN announced this week that the latest bid to find a solution to the Syrian war would begin on Friday, but deep reservations among the opposition and rows between rival powers over the participants have thrown the process into doubt.

The talks are the first major push to halt the fighting, which has claimed the lives of at least 260,000 people, since the failure of the last round of negotiations in early 2014. The UN has downplayed the prospects of success, warning that progress will be slow.

Turkey threatened to stage a boycott if Kurdish military forces were invited at Russia’s behest. Britain, meanwhile, accused Moscow of “hypocrisy” and warned that it was jeopardising the fragile negotiations by helping the Syrian army.

While the Syrian government, having gained momentum with the help of Russian air power, has said that it will attend the talks, the official opposition has been wary.

Increasingly disillusioned by what it sees as US concessions to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his backers, it had declared that it cannot take part unless the Syrian government proves its commitment to peace by stopping bombing rebel-held areas.

However, amid heavy pressure applied by the US, the UK and others, the delegation appeared to be leaning towards turning up for the talks. The process is due to begin with indirect negotiations with the aim of bringing the opposing sides together over several months.

The picture has been further complicated by the messy web of competing interests in Syria which has pitched the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey against President Assad and his allies Russia and Iran.

A major argument has erupted over the role of Kurdish forces. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said excluding Syrian Kurds from the negotiating process would be “unfair” and “counterproductive”, warning that Turkey was likely to use “blackmail” to keep the Kurds out of a political settlement.

Turkey, locked in a diplomatic row with Moscow since November after shooting down a Russian fighter jet, is deeply anxious that Kurdish ambitions in Syria could bolster the aspirations of Turkey’s own Kurdish population.

The Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said in a CNN interview that Ankara supported the inclusion of Syrian Kurds in the peace process but not the YPG, a Western-backed rebel force that is linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has waged an 30-year armed struggle against Turkey.

His Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said Turkey would boycott the talks if the PYD were invited. It appeared that Turkey had been placated as Salih Muslim, the group’s leader, told Reuters that he had not received an invitation. The manoeuvring comes amid gains made by the Syrian army since Russian air strikes began in September.

Gareth Bayley, the UK’s special representative to Syria, rebuked the Kremlin after the fall of Sheikh Miskeen, a town near the border with Jordan. He said: “By continuing to support the regime in its bombardment of the moderate opposition, Russia risks damaging the already-fragile process of intra-Syrian negotiations.”

The international coalition against Isis has reportedly dropped flyers warning jihadists that it will not stop bombing “until the last fighter is killed”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said that two types of leaflet were dropped in north-east Syria by aircraft from the US-led air campaign against the group.

One, intended for civilians, pointed out the difference in living conditions for Isis fighters and ordinary citizens. It said: “Isis enjoys plenty of meals while you wait in line for water and food.”

A second, aimed at undermining the morale of Isis forces, said Isis terrain was “shrinking” and many of its leaders had been killed. “We will not stop the bombing and we will not stop the war until the last fighter dies,” it said.

Laura Pitel