Syrian rebels say Russia responsible if peace talks fail

The village is in Syria’s oil-rich Deir Ezzor province, where IS has sought to advance in recent days despite a barrage of Russian and Syrian government air strikes.

The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has the final say on the delegation and who will receive invitations to attend the talks.

Kerry called Lavrov to discuss the talks following a face-to-face meeting on Wednesday, Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement, with both men backing efforts to get them started “next week”.

“So far, the obstacles in front of the conference have yet to be removed”. “There must be a halt to the bombardment of civilians by Russian planes, and sieges of blockaded areas must be lifted”, Sabra said by telephone.

Tishrin was referring to Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, who are strong backers of the opposition that is trying to remove Assad from power.

The phone conversation between Lavrov and Kerry took place on the USA initiative.

One of the biggest rebel factions in the HNC, Jaysh al-Islam said in a separate statement the opposition was facing “many pressures” to make concessions.

The talks have also been thrown into doubt by a disagreement over who should represent the opposition.

“Putting someone from the Army of Islam as a chief negotiator, means that they want to impose an Islamic state”.

Jaysh al-Islam past year backed away from hardline Islamist rhetoric heard from it earlier in the conflict, saying Syrians should be free to pick their form of government and Alawites were part of the Syrian nation. Turkey claims the two Kurdish groups are not legitimate opposition groups and accuses them of collaborating with Assad’s government.

According to the newspaper, on January 3, Colonel-General Igor Sergun, director of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, just weeks before his death has travelled to Syria to deliver Putin’s request for Assad to leave his post as Syria’s president. It excludes, among other groups, representatives of the Democratic Union Party, or PYD, the largest Kurdish group which has been instrumental in the fight against the Islamic State group in northern Syria. His remarks were carried by state media Sunday.