A Syrian rebel group on Saturday said United Nations-led peace talks had so far been extremely negative and criticised opposition negotiators as divorced from a deteriorating military situation on the ground.
Members of the Syrian opposition delegation of the High Negotiations Committee HNC attend a meeting in Geneva
BEIRUT: A Syrian rebel group on Saturday said United
Nations-led peace talks had so far been extremely negative and
criticised opposition negotiators as divorced from a deteriorating
military situation on the ground.
The statement from Ahrar al-Sham, an Islamist group and one
of the biggest rebel factions involved in the conflict, indicates the
pressure facing the opposition High Negotiations Committee as it takes
part in a second round of indirect talks with the government in Geneva.
The talks appear to be making no progress towards ending the
five-year-long war that has killed more than 250,000 people, while a
military escalation has stretched to breaking point a truce agreement
brokered by the United States and Russia.
"There is a clear division between the work of the (HNC) and
the reality on the ground, for while Russia realises field gains for
the benefit of the regime, giving it political momentum, and while the
regime and Iran breach the truce ... we see insistence from the (HNC) on
pursuing the negotiations," it said.
Russia and Iran have both provided military support to President
Bashar al-Assad, with Moscow deploying its air force and Iran sending
members of its elite Revolutionary Guard Corps and, more recently, its
regular army to support Damascus.
The HNC was formed in December at a Riyadh meeting of the
political and armed opposition to Assad. It includes rebel groups
including Jaysh al-Islam and a number of Free Syrian Army rebel factions
deemed moderate by the West, some of which have received military
support from Assad's foreign enemies.
Ahrar al-Sham withdrew from the Riyadh meeting, citing
reasons including what it described as the sidelining of "revolutionary
groups". Further distancing itself from the political process, Ahrar
al-Sham said in its statement on Saturday that it had not taken part in
any of the Geneva talks.
It also said there was "a gulf" between the HNC and "the
revolutionary street with all its military and civilian elements",
calling its performance "weak and stumbling".
The HNC has itself expressed deep misgivings about the
outlook for peace talks which it says must be focussed on a political
transition. The Syrian government has ruled out any discussion of the
presidency.
Ahrar al-Sham said the Syrian government was meanwhile still "working for a purely military solution".
Ahrar al-Sham is an ultra-orthodox Salafist group and has
fought as part of a military alliance including the al Qaeda-linked
Nusra Front, which was not part of the cessation of hostilities
agreement brokered in February.
Ahrar al-Sham, whose late leader had fought alongside Osama
bin Laden, last year denied sharing al Qaeda's ideology or having
organisational ties to the group.
The Ahrar statement also noted that important opposition
conditions for the start of the political process had not been realised,
including an end to government blockades of opposition-held territory
and a release of detainees.
(Additional reporting by Ali Abdellatti in Cairo, writing by Tom Perry, editing by G Crosse)
- Reuters
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