Syria Talks May Yield Little, But Give Cover to Those Defying Hard-Liners

As peace talks wrap today in Geneva, the New York Times reports on the small gains made at the conference.

“There were signs that in small ways, the conference might have achieved one of its aims: to give political cover to those who want a solution but fear angering hard-liners on either side,” it says.

“In a striking development on Thursday, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, an organization operating under government auspices and widely accused of favoring pro-government areas, publicly declared a view that many of its volunteers had long quietly held: that humanitarian aid should be delivered in a politically neutral way, including to opposition-held areas the government has long blockaded.

“Both delegations, at the outset of morning talks, stood for a minute of silence to honor the tens of thousands of Syrians who have died in the war. It was a suggestion from the lead opposition negotiator, Hadi al-Bahra, but the government representatives did not, and politically could not, refuse.

“At the same time, a long-delayed aid convoy reached the blockaded Yarmouk Camp on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus, where more than 18,000 Palestinian civilians are trapped and hungry. It delivered more than 1,000 food packages, each of which feeds a family for 10 days.”

U.S. Accuses Syria of Stalling on Chemical Plan

Al Jazeera reports that plans to remove Syria’s chemical weapons have “languished and stalled” as media attention focuses on Geneva.

“‘Syria must immediately take the necessary actions to comply with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, Executive Council decisions, and U.N. Security Council Resolution 2118,” said [Robert] Mikulak, the U.S. permanent representative to the OPCW.

“Timelines adopted last year required that 100 percent of “priority one” chemicals be eliminated by December 31, 2013, while the deadline for removing “priority two” chemicals is February 5. That deadline will also not be met.

‘The Syrian government has attributed the delays to ‘security concerns,’ saying it needs additional equipment to ensure their safe transportation, a claim Mikulak rejected. ‘Syria’s requests for equipment and open-ended delaying of the removal operation could ultimately jeopardize the carefully timed and coordinated multi-state removal and destruction effort,’ he said.”

The Man Syria’s Jihadists Want Dead

The Daily Beast writes about Raed Fares, an anti-jihad activist from Kafranbel who earlier this week survived an assassination attempt.

“The threat of attack has hung over Fares’s life, and over the small city of Kafranbel, for three years as Assad’s men and various groups of radical al-Qaida affiliated rebels have besieged the town on all sides. The city’s 2011 revolt against the Assad regime resulted in an army invasion with what Fares reports to be ‘thousands of soldiers and up to 100 armored vehicles,’” it says.

“Over the last year, Kafranbel has struggled with what Fares described, in an interview earlier this month, as a ‘new tyranny’ in the form of ISIS. He explained the wave of fanaticism in historical terms: ‘The revolutionaries were originally peaceful protestors who had a clear vision of a civil Syrian state, but as the brutality of the Assad regime continued to increase, they had to pick up arms.’ Subsequently, Fares said, foreign funds led to division among the previously united group of anti-Assad rebels. ‘The revolutionaries were no longer united on the single issue. You had the exile opposition and the internal opposition, and with all of these different groups, it became impossible for all of the components of the revolution to combat the well-funded and well-structured narrative that the regime was pushing.’”

Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team:

Al Jazeera: U.S. Accuses Syria of Stalling on Chemical Plan

Reuters: U.N. Delivers Food to Residents of Besieged Damascus Suburb

Telegraph: Assad Advisor: Moment Not Right For Elections

Guardian: Al-Qaida Faction in Syria Contemplating U.S. Attack, Intelligence Warns

AP: Nearly 1900 Killed in Syria During Peace Talks