Quick breakthrough ‘not expected in Syria talks’

GENEVA: UN mediator Staffan de Mistura on Wednesday said he did not expect an immediate breakthrough when Syria peace talks restart Thursday, but rather a productive dialogue that relaunches the process to reach a political solution to end the six-year conflict.
The talks will be the first UN-mediated negotiations on Syria in almost a year, during which period the military and geopolitical context has changed massively. Even so, the same disagreements are likely to resurface.
De Mistura said Russia, which has supported President Bashar Assad’s military advances, had asked the Syrian regime to “silence their own skies in the areas touched by the cease-fire” during the talks. Countries close to the opposition were also asked to urge them to lessen provocations, he said.
“Am I expecting a breakthrough? No, I’m not expecting a breakthrough,” de Mistura told a news conference. “But I am expecting and determined for keeping a very pro-active momentum,” he said.
He said that he hoped neither side would seek to disrupt the talks by provoking the other and that momentum toward a political solution was necessary to thwart those bent on derailing peace efforts.
“There is a rush between us and the spoilers, we have to outpace those few, but clear spoilers with momentum on the political track and I think we can aim at that,” de Mistura said.
While the Geneva talks will focus on politics, de Mistura said he expected more rounds of talks in the Kazakh capital Astana, convened by Russia, Turkey and Iran, to deal with the cease-fire and related humanitarian issues, including prisoners.
The main opposition group said it wanted face-to-face discussions with regime representatives.
“We ask for direct negotiations … It would save time and be proof of seriousness instead of negotiating in (separate) rooms,” Salem Al-Meslet, spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee umbrella group, told AFP.
During three previous rounds of talks in Geneva last year, the two sides never sat down at the same table, instead leaving de Mistura to shuttle between them.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan’s spokesman said that seizing control of Syria’s Al-Bab from Daesh is important to wiping out the militant group from its stronghold of Raqqa.
Ibrahim Kalin also said the argument that there was no alternative to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in the fight against Daesh was invalid.
Separately, Fikri Isik, Turkish defense minister, said fewer than 100 extremists were still holed up in Al-Bab, as opposition commanders predicted its capture was imminent.
He said half of the town of Al-Bab was in the hands of Turkish troops and allied fighters, after the government repeatedly said it was “largely under control.”