Warring factions hit deadlock in Syrian peace talks

The afternoon session of peace talks between Syria's warring sides was cancelled by UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi yesterday following the morning presentation by the opposition of its opinion on implementation of the Geneva declaration issued in June 2012.

“I suggested we not meet . . . in order to prepare ourselves for a better meeting tomorrow morning,” he stated, dismissing a spate of conflicting theories over the events. He said, “There has been no breakthrough but we are still at it. This is good enough as far as I am concerned.”

Transitional authority
Although Mr Brahimi refused to elaborate, the main demand of the expatriate opposition National Coalition is the formation under the "Geneva I" declaration of a transitional authority, excluding President Bashar al-Assad, to make the shift from Baath party rule to a democratic system.

The government, which Mr Brahimi said has not yet put forward its views on the declaration, insists Dr Assad remain in power and play a leading role in forging Syria’s future.

He confirmed that the government delegation had protested after it was revealed the US Congress, meeting in closed session, authorised funding and delivery of light arms and anti-tank weapons to the “moderate” Free Syrian Army, the military arm of the coalition. Shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missiles were excluded from the deal, although Saudi Arabia has supplied some of these to fundamentalist groups.

Mr Brahimi repeated that discussions have not been “easy today . . . in past days and in future days” but he was encouraged by the parties’ determination to continue until Friday, the end of this round.

In Syria, there has been no progress on the promised evacuation of women and children and the delivery of food and medicine to the insurgent-held old city of Homs, besieged by the army for 600 days.

However, Homs governor Talal Barrazi said a UN official has established contact with insurgents to organise these operations. Some 200 women and children are ready to leave, while 300 have opted to stay with their men who fear to identify themselves to the government before being let leave.

The convoy of the World Food Programme, waiting on the edges of the old city, has assembled 500 bags of flour and 500 food parcels to provide for 2,500 people for one month. The supplies will be delivered as soon clearance has been obtained from both sides.

Shia villages
If the government is prepared to end sieges on rebel-held areas, opposition spokesman Louay Safi said the Free Army will lift the siege on the pro-government Shia villages of Nubi, al-Zahra and al-Foua, the sole villages surrounded by the Free Army.

Government forces have advanced toward southeastern Aleppo in the protracted battle for the northern city, Britain-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Residents of affected areas were said to be fleeing to government-controlled neighbourhoods to escape the fighting.

A suicide bomber from al-Qaeda franchise Jabhat al-Nusra slew 13 soldiers in an attack on the defence minister Fahd al-Freij’s largely Sunni hometown of Rahjan in Hama province.