 Syria opposition names Saudi-backed Islamist top negotiator Riyadh (AFP) Jan 20, 2016 - Syria's largest opposition coalition on Wednesday named an Islamist rebel chief backed by Riyadh as its chief negotiator for peace talks slated to open on January 25 in Geneva. The coalition of political and armed opposition groups demanded the exclusion of other parties from the talks and a halt to the Syrian army's bombardment and sieges of populated areas. It has appointed Mohammed Alloush, a political leader of the Saudi-backed armed group Jaish al-Islam, as its chief negotiator, the coalition's general coordinator, Riad Hijab, announced at a news conference in Riyadh. He said Asaad al-Zoabi, a general who defected from the army, will serve as head of the delegation, with Syrian National Council chief George Sabra as his deputy. A 33-member opposition "supreme committee" was formed at a landmark meeting last month of Syrian opposition groups in the Saudi capital. Hijab insisted the committee's delegation should be the only opposition representative at the talks, aimed at bringing an end to a five-year-conflict that has cost more than 260,000 lives. "We will not go to negotiations if a third party or person is added," he warned. Hijab also said that "we cannot go to negotiations with our people dying of hunger and under shelling" by pro-regime forces. Countries pushing for a peace deal for Syria, including the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, have struggled to agree on the list of opposition delegates. Russia and Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival, are the main supporters of President Bashar al-Assad. Moscow wants the participation of Damascus-tolerated opposition groups. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Tuesday that the Riyadh-based committee was "the concerned body, and nobody else can impose on them who should represent them" in negotiations. Riyadh in December brought together about 100 representatives at the meeting of Syria's main political opposition and armed factions. They agreed to negotiate with the regime but insisted Assad step down at the start of any political transition. The Islamic State jihadist group, which has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, and the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front were excluded from the Riyadh meeting. Kurdish fighters were also left out. A newly formed secular Kurdish-Arab alliance, the Syrian Democratic Council, last week demanded its own seat at the negotiating table and said it would not be grouped with the Riyadh body. Syria's tolerated domestic opposition, the National Coordinating Committee for Democratic Change, belongs to the Riyadh grouping but on Wednesday slammed Alloush and Zoabi's appointments. It said it was "not acceptable for the head of the delegation and the chief negotiator to be affiliated with the armed opposition" and urged the make-up of the delegation be changed. "This sends the wrong political message to the Syrian people," the NCCDC added in a statement from Damascus.
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Syria peace talks are expected to begin within a few days, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday, adding that Moscow was ready to cooperate closer with the United States on Syria aid supplies.
Lavrov, who met his US counterpart John Kerry in Zurich Wednesday in a bid to give momentum to Syria peace talks due to begin on January 25, rejected suggestions the negotiations might be delayed until February amid disagreements over who will represent the opposition.
"We are sure that in the next few days, in January, these talks should begin," he told reporters.
He stressed though that the United Nations was leading the process and the start date would ultimately be determined by UN chief Ban Ki-moon and his envoy on Syria Staffan De Mistura.
Kerry did not make any comments Wednesday, but his spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that the two men had "discussed plans for the UN-led negotiations between the Syrian parties on January 25 and the importance of maintaining progress toward a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria."
Before leaving Washington on Tuesday, Kirby had meanwhile acknowledged that "there is still quite a bit of work that needs to be done to get the meeting to occur" between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and representatives of the opposition.
But disagreement over who will represent the opposition has cast doubt over whether the UN-brokered talks will begin on schedule.
The 17 countries pushing for a peace deal for war-ravaged Syria, including the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, have struggled to agree on the list of opposition delegates.
- Closer coordination on aid -
Lavrov meanwhile said Wednesday that he and Kerry had discussed another thorny issue: Russia's air strikes in Syria.
He said Moscow was ready to coordinate more closely with the US-led coalition to help facilitate aid deliveries inside the war-torn country.
"We spoke about how the Russian airforce, when planning its actions, takes into account the programmes that the UN humanitarian organisations, the Red Cross and other NGOs carry out," Lavrov said.
"We said that we will be ready to more closely coordinate our actions with the American coalition in this direction," he stressed.
Earlier Wednesday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Russian air strikes had killed more than 1,000 civilians, including more than 200 children, in Syria since they began in September.
Russia is a staunch ally of the Syrian government and has coordinated its strikes with Damascus, saying it is targeting IS and other "terrorist" groups.
But activists and rebels accuse Moscow of focusing more on moderate and Islamist opposition fighters than IS.
A coalition led by Washington has also been carrying out strikes against IS in Syria since September 2014, but it does not coordinate its raids with Damascus.
Those strikes have killed 4,256 people since they began, among them 322 civilians, including over 90 children, according to the Observatory.
US, France condemn Russia's role in Syria
Paris (AFP) Jan 20, 2016 -
The US and French defence ministers on Wednesday condemned Moscow's role in the Syria conflict, saying Russian jets should stop targeting the opposition forces fighting the Islamic State group.
"The Russians are on the wrong track strategically and also in some cases tactically," said US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter after a meeting in Paris of seven defence ministers in the coalition fighting IS.
"We don't have a basis for broader cooperation (with Russia)," Carter said.
His French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian said, for his part: "We hope that Russia will concentrate its efforts against Daesh (the Arabic acronym for IS) and stop bombing the groups of the uprising (against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) who themselves are fighting Daesh."
At the same time on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was ready to work more closely with the US-led coalition to help facilitate aid deliveries inside Syria.
Speaking after talks with his US counterpart John Kerry in Zurich, Switzerland, he said: "We spoke about how the Russian air force, when planning its actions, takes into account the programmes that the UN humanitarian organisations, the Red Cross and other NGOs carry out.
"We said that we will be ready to more closely coordinate our actions with the American coalition in this direction."
He also said UN-brokered Syria peace talks would begin "in the next few days" in Geneva.
Lavrov rejected suggestions that the negotiations, tentatively set for January 25, might be delayed until February amid disagreements over who will represent the Syrian opposition.
"We are sure that in the next few days, in January, these talks should begin," he told reporters.
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