Syrian Talks Disrupted by U.S. Congressional Approval of Rebel Aid 

The New York Times reports on “fireworks” in Geneva as the U.S. government announced it would restart deliveries of aid to Syrian rebel groups. In their wake, U.N. mediators suspended talks for the afternoon.

“The opposition delegation presented a detailed plan for the future of Syria, said Oubai Shahbandar, an adviser to the delegation. But after what Mr. Shahbandar called an ‘outburst’ from the government’s lead negotiator, Bashar al-Jaafari, no further discussion was held on forming a transitional government, the central issue in the talks under the protocols of the first Geneva conference, in 2012.

“Syria’s information minister, Omran al-Zoubi, played down the clash in the morning meeting, saying in an interview that the two sides had spent ’10 minutes laughing’ after Mr. Jaafari, the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, joked that Al Jazeera, the Qatari-owned pan-Arab news channel that the government despises for its sympathetic stance on the insurgency, was ‘founded by Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.’

“Mr. Zoubi said the American aid to the rebels, now with explicit congressional approval, contradicted the United States’ role as a sponsor of the peace talks. Russia, the other sponsor, has supported the Syrian government with arms sales, but Syrian officials say that falls under legal bilateral relations and is not equivalent to the American funding.”

Siege Tactics in Syria Come Under Scrutiny

The Washington Post reports on the Syrian government’s “surrender or starve” strategy, which are coming under scrutiny in Switzerland.

The talks “have thrown a spotlight on the plight of cut-off civilians in the central city of Homs, as participants focus on the issue of humanitarian access before turning to the tougher political questions,” the paper says. “However, confidence is ebbing that relief will materialize.

“The World Food Program has said it is poised to enter besieged areas with 500 bags of family rations and 500 sacks of wheat. But the aid trucks remain stranded outside Homs, and on Tuesday, the U.S. government laid the blame squarely on the government.

“’The only reason this assistance has not been delivered is that the regime has refused to let the convoy through,’ said State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez, rejecting government claims that rebel snipers and armed groups were preventing entry. ‘The regime’s actions speak volumes to how little they value the lives of innocent civilians.’”

Syrians Under Siege in Homs Demand End to Suffering

Meanwhile, CNN reports on Homs civilians’ reactions to the minimal humanitarian concessions made this week by by their government.

“The Geneva peace talks seemed to matter little to residents living on perpetually empty bellies who demanded all parties put aside their differences to break the almost two-year siege of Homs rather than agree to a temporary solution from a reluctant regime.

“‘We ask Geneva to break the siege and make us safe roads and get us out of here. I need an urgent operation on my leg … We have been around one year and eight months under the siege, and also we don’t want Ban Ki-moon … to be worried about us anymore. They have been worrying for more than a year and seven months. Poor them,’ an elderly man with crutches sarcastically says in a video posted on social media websites.”

Army Edges Forward in Aleppo

As talks continue, AFP reports that Assad’s army is making small but important gains on the battlegrounds of southeastern Aleppo.

“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was a ‘limited advance’ but the first by government troops in more than a year, and that residents fearing a major operation were fleeing the region. The troops have gained some ground in Aleppo in the past few weeks, taking advantage of the fact that rebels who hold large swathes of territory have turned their guns against jihadist fighters.”

“The Syrian army made a limited advance, for the first time in more than a year, and seized the Karm al-Qasr district on the [rebel-held] southeastern fringes of Aleppo,” the Observatory told the wire, which added that the offensive “was launched from Nairab military airport east of Aleppo, Syria’s second city and pre-war commercial hub.”

Rebels in Syria Claim Control of Oil Resources

The New York Times also reports on U.S. officials’ claims that rebel groups have seized most of Syria’s oil and gas resources, a rare money generator in Syria’s battered war economy.

“While the oil and gas fields are in serious decline, control of them has bolstered the fortunes of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and the Nusra Front, both of which are offshoots of al-Qaida. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is even selling fuel to the Assad government, lending weight to allegations by opposition leaders that it is secretly working with Damascus to weaken the other rebel groups and discourage international support for their cause.

“Although there is no clear evidence of direct tactical coordination between the group and Mr. Assad, American officials say that his government has facilitated the group’s rise not only by purchasing its oil but by exempting some of its headquarters from the airstrikes that have tormented other rebel groups.”

Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team:

BBC: Syria Opposition Demads Government Proposal for Transition

Reuters: Aid Convoy Stalled as Government Seeks Assurances

Reuters:  U.N Suggests Removal of Chemical Weapons Unnecessarily Delayed

Telegraph: Britain Opens Doors to Hundreds of Syrian Refugees

Al Jazeera: Starving to Death in Syria’s Yarmouk Camp

Washington Post:  ‘Return to Homs’: The Syrian Documentary that Just Won Big at Sundance