WORLD_ Syria peace talks postponed in blow to Obama

Syria peace talks postponed in blow to Obama

Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
6:02 p.m. EST November 6, 2013


U.S. and Russian negotiators failed Tuesday to agree on the role of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, Iran and various opposition forces.


Talks backed by President Obama to end the Syrian civil war have been canceled after U.S. and Russian negotiators failed to agree on whether Syrian dictator Bashar Assad should be forced out of office as a condition for peace.

"We were hoping that we'd be in a position to announce a date today, unfortunately we're not," United Nations-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi told reporters after meeting with senior diplomats in Geneva, according to RIA Novosti, a Russian news service.

"We're still hoping that we'll be able to have the conference before the end of the year," Brahimi said.

The news comes as bombs targeting the entrance of a landmark Ottoman railway building in Damascus and a feared security agency in Syria's southeast killed at least 16 people on Wednesday.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but rebels tied to al-Qaeda have previously claimed bombings of security institutions and have also targeted the center of the capital.

Talks broke down Tuesday because U.S. and Russian negotiators disagreed, among other things, over how the future leaders of Syria would be determined. Assad's government said it would not agree to step down, and Russia insisted Iran take part in the talks, which negotiators had told reporters were set for Nov. 23.

Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for Obama's National Security Council, said the U.S. and United Nations never committed to the date. But she said that the U.S. is seeking a date for talks when Assad opponents are unified because talks are "the only way to end the bloodshed."

Representatives of the Syrian rebellion as well as Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have said that the aim of the negotiations is for Assad to leave. However, Assad said as recently as this week that he will not resign as part of any peace deal.

The talks were scheduled in the hope that they would end a war that has cost more than 100,000 lives, according to the United Nations. Assad's forces, assisted by Iran and the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hezbollah, continue to pound rebel forces in various cities.

Obama has made the talks the main thrust of his Syria policy. He has declined to provide significant military support to rebel factions to rid the country of Assad and al-Qaeda influence, as pushed for by some in Congress such as Sen. John McCain.

Militant groups linked to al-Qaeda have sent forces to Syria to fight for the rebels, and those forces have been setting up Islamic law in regions they control.

Brahimi said the main reason for the cancellation of the talks is that the Syrian opposition is divided and "not ready" for negotiations.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov blamed the United States for being unable to pull together the rebel factions and bring them to the table. Russia is an ally of Assad and has been supplying his military with arms and equipment.

"It is not just the representation of the opposition that is required, but the participation of an opposition delegation of a broad range of opposition forces. And this is what the Americans are failing to achieve," he said, according to RIA Novosti.

The Supreme Military Council, a group of Syrians opposed to Assad that is overseeing many of the rebel forces, told USA TODAY it refuses to join the talks if they do not focus on ending Assad's rule and trying him for war crimes.

The group says it seeks to establish democratic reforms in Syria but its brigades include those that seek an Islamic state and others that don't.

"We want this bloodbath to end, but we want a clear guarantee this Geneva II will end the war in Syria, that Bashar al-Assad will have no future in Syria or any kind of solution," Louay Mokdad, spokesman for the Supreme Military Council, told USA TODAY last week.


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