Geneva 4: Going around in circles

GENEVA: After the breakthrough in Geneva 4 talks on Friday, when the Assad regime negotiator for the first time met face-to-face with the opposition, negotiations have since been going in circles.
A representative of the Moscow-backed Syria opposition, Hamza Monzer, said that opposition groups needed to form a single delegation if they were to enter talks with representatives of the Damascus government here.
Meanwhile, Syrian warplanes continue pounding the opposition-held areas in central city of Homs while its army advances against Daesh near Aleppo.
The main Syrian opposition group at the peace talks here accused Damascus on Sunday of “stalling” negotiations after its chief envoy demanded all sides to condemn the deadly suicide assault in Homs this weekend.
In a separate statement, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) leader, Nasr Al-Hariri, hoped to persuade the new administration of US President Donald Trump that those fighting to topple President Bashar Assad share the same priorities with Washington when it comes to fighting the Daesh and containing Iran while the UN Syria envoy said several more rounds of Syrian peace talks will be needed to reach any accord.
Reacting to the Syrian regime’s chief negotiator Bashar Al-Jaafari’s statement that any opposition delegates who refused to condemn the attack were “accomplices of terrorism,” HNC spokesman Salem Al-Meslet told AFP in Geneva, “Jaafari is stalling, they don’t want to start the political transition.”
UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura launched the fourth round of Geneva talks on Thursday.
Setting out three key discussion areas, the UN envoy established the framework for sputtering Syria talks.
In a paper given to both sides, and seen by AFP Sunday, he said that by the end of the current session “we would have a deeper shared understanding of how we can proceed in future rounds” in discussing each area.
The talks could last until March 5, a couple of days longer than originally scheduled, according to an opposition source. The first full day of talks was Friday.
A diplomat and opposition member told Reuters the working paper included an agenda based on resolution 2254 with focus on a new constitution and UN-supervised elections that would be discussed in three working groups.
Opposition supports safe zones
The HNC expressed support for the establishment of safe zones in the war-torn nation as the UN makes a fresh bid to settle the conflict.
Speaking on Saturday in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Al-Hariri said members of Trump’s team held multiple meetings with the Syrian opposition, which is backed by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, before and after he was elected to office with the purpose of finding a common ground.
Syrian air raids
Warplanes bombed opposition-held areas around several Syrian cities on Sunday including in the Al-Waer district of Homs, and in towns around Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor said.
The regime forces and its allies also made a sudden advance on Saturday and Sunday into areas held by Daesh in northwest Syria, a war monitor said.
Additional input from AFP, AP, Reuters