Key opposition group says will join peace talks on Syria




The first peace talks on Syria in two years began amid uncertainty, but now a key opposition group has decided to join.

The Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee —or HNC — is expected to be at the Geneva negotiations by Sunday.

Its representatives say they changed their minds about attending the talks after receiving guarantees from the US and Saudi Arabia that humanitarian issues they wanted resolving would be implemented.

Among their demands were for Russian-backed attacks on civilian areas in Syria to be stopped, blockades to be lifted and ongoing sieges to be brought to an end.

A delegation representing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has already begun so-called proximity talks with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-01-30

A good start, but ultimately it comes down to how much the Russians want to keep Asaad in power and whether any replacement can guarantee continued naval port access by the Russians and weapon purchases.

Not much chance of anything concrete and actionable I would think. For me there is no one but Assad to lead Syria, and the US and Russia both know he will win if free and fair elections are held, which is why the Russians want free and fair elections where Assad can stand and the US want to prevent him from standing. Let's face it if he were that unpopular with the 70% of the population that live in the western part of Syria (Damascus, Homs, Hama, Latakia and Aleppo) there is no way he would still be in power now having survived the common might of the US, KSA, Turkey and their terrorist spawn.

Unless Assad stands down voluntarily there is no common ground between the savages that want power and the proven leadership of Assad albeit with its own savagery.