Syrian peace talks stall over issue of ‘opposition’

Preliminary peace talks between Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, and opposition forces, which were due to begin this week, have stalled. The talks have been scheduled to take place over six months and are aimed at ending the five-year civil war, but questions over who should be invited have scuttled progress. International disagreement over which parties among the opposition should be invited appears to be the primary stumbling block. UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has said that talks will push for a nationwide ceasefire for all parties, excluding ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra. The situation has changed dramatically since peace talks in early 2014. ISIL has declared its own caliphate, the Syrian government has secured the support of Russia, and a UN Security Council resolution passed in December 2015 has put peace talks firmly back on the agenda.

Syria peace talks meant to begin this week were stalled Monday partly over the question of who would represent the opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Secretary of State John Kerry said he expected clarity within a day or two and expressed support for The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, who has the tricky task of issuing invitations for the first talks in two years to end the five-year-old civil war.

The talks were meant to begin Monday in Geneva but have been held up by international disagreement over which parties among the opposition should be invited. Syrian rebels want an end to airstrikes and government sieges of territory they hold and the release of detainees. The talks have been rescheduled for Friday and are expected to last six months.

De Mistura has said that talks on Syria will push for a nationwide cease-fire for all parties other than the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Jabhat Al-Nusra (the Nusra Front).

"The condition is it should be a real cease-fire and not just local," he said. "Suspension of fighting regarding ISIL and al-Nusra is not on the table. However, [there are] plenty of other suspensions of fighting that can take place."

Diplomacy has so far yielded no progress toward ending or even curbing Syria's civil war, which has killed more than 250,000 people and driven more than 10 million from their homes.

Since the last peace conference was held in early 2014, ISIL fighters have declared a caliphate across parts of Syria and Iraq, and the war has drawn in a slew of world powers. A U.S.-led campaign has led airstrikes against ISIL fighters since 2014, and Russia last year launched a separate air campaign against all enemies of its ally Assad.

The Syrian government and its allies have been encouraged by recent gains carved out with the help of Russian firepower.

Diplomats were given a new push by a U.N. Security Council resolution backed by Washington and Moscow last month calling for talks, but peace efforts are on hold while questions such as whom to invite are resolved.

Russia says opposition figures it calls terrorists should be barred from the talks and wants to include groups like the Kurds, who control wide areas of northern Syria. Regional heavyweight Turkey strongly opposes inviting the Kurds.

The main Sunni Arab opposition groups, which are supported by Sunni Arab governments and the West, say they will not attend unless they can choose their own delegation. Spokesman Salim al-Muslat said the opposition High Negotiation Committee will discuss its position on Tuesday.

Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups should start by the end of January as planned but that the invitation list remains a sticking point.

The talks in Geneva will come after a set of meetings in Vienna and New York among the international community and regional players. During those meetings, Saudi Arabia was expected to come up with the opposition list to attend the Geneva talks.

Al Jazeera and Reuters