Syrian rebels pledge to keep fighting if talks fail

Syrian rebels vowed yesterday to keep fighting if peace negotiations with the government of President Bashar al-Assad fail, as the first day of talks in the Kazakh capital Astana ended with no apparent breakthrough.
Yesterday’s meetings, organised by key players Russia, Turkey and Iran, could have marked the first time armed rebel groups negotiate directly with the Assad regime since the conflict erupted in 2011.
But the rebels backed out of direct talks because of the regime’s continued bombardment and attacks on a flashpoint area near Damascus.
However, they took part in indirect talks with the government and held a three-way meeting with Russia, Turkey and the United Nations, an encounter rebel spokesman Yehya al-Aridi described as “long and productive”.
“If the negotiations succeed, then we are with the negotiations,” rebel spokesman Osama Abu Zeid said early yesterday.
“If they don’t succeed, unfortunately we’ll have no choice but to continue fighting.”
The talks are scheduled to continue today, with Aridi saying he expected they would take place “through mediation”.A member of the rebel delegation said that the group would agree to seeing Russia as a guarantor of the current ceasefire but not Iran, another Assad backer.
Aridi told reporters the “two sides are working on issues relating to the confirmation of the ceasefire” brokered last month by Ankara and Moscow.
“It’s not been a bad day,” a Western diplomat said.”The delegations met, made presentations.”
The negotiations in the Kazakh capital come amid a rapprochement between regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey, who have come to fill the vacuum left by months of US disengagement from the conflict.
Several rounds of failed talks in Geneva saw political opposition figures take the lead in negotiating with the regime.
But in Astana, the 14-member opposition delegation is composed solely of rebels leading the armed uprising, with members of the political opposition serving as advisors.
The initiative has been widely welcomed, but the two sides arrived in Astana with apparently divergent ideas on their aim.
Chief rebel negotiator Mohamed Alloush said in his opening statement that the opposition was focused on bolstering the nationwide truce, while Assad has insisted rebels lay down their arms in exchange for an amnesty deal.
“We came here to reinforce the ceasefire as the first phase of this process,” Alloush said in comments broadcast online.”We will not proceed to the next phases until this actually happens on the ground.”
Damascus has also called for a “comprehensive” political solution to a conflict that has killed more than 310,000 and displaced more than half of Syria’s population.
The head of the regime delegation, Syria’s UN ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari, said in his opening comments carried by the country’s Sana state news agency that he hoped the talks “will reinforce the cessation of hostilities”.
He added the government was keen to separate the rebels from the Islamic State group and former Al Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front.
Delegation spokesman Abu Zeid said the rebels were concerned with “more than just a ceasefire”.
“The issue is putting monitoring, investigation and accountability mechanisms in place,” he said.”We want these mechanisms so that this doesn’t play out over and over.”
Previous pushes for a long-term ceasefire have faltered, with both sides trading accusations over violations.
Syrian state media said the regime had met the Iranian delegation as well as UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura before yesterday’s talks, to discuss their positions.
“This is not a replacement for the Geneva process,” rebel negotiator Fares Buyush said, referring to the UN-hosted political negotiations set to resume in the Swiss city next month.
Although Russia and Turkey back opposing sides, they have worked hand-in-hand in recent weeks to try to secure an end to the brutal war and forged a partnership likely to be tested in Astana.
US President Donald Trump’s administration was invited to participate in the talks but did not send a delegation.
Washington is instead represented by its ambassador to Kazakhstan, while France and Britain are represented at ambassador level.
Experts say an eventual breakthrough could see some of the armed opposition join next month’s talks in Geneva.