Morning Star.png Rebels' Talks Walkout Risks New Total War, Says Russia James Tweedie, The Morning Star, London, 22 April 2016 Russia warned yesterday that Saudi-backed rebels' walkout from Syrian peace talks could mean a return to total war. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) withdrawal could lead to "a return of total armed conflict." Syria has accused HNC-affiliated forces of fighting with more extreme rebel groups not covered by the Damascus-HNC ceasefire, but the HNC said those fighters were resisting attacks by the government and allied militias. "We have a situation where terrorists are desperately trying to disrupt the political process," said Ms Zakharova. But Russian Foreign Minster Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that attempts to scupper the peace process were doomed to failure. He said that Russia's "Western partners" were coming to realise that re-escalating the war for the "geopolitical selfish purposes" of some parties was futile and "the positive trend in Syria is obvious." Following a meeting with UN deputy Syrian envoy Ramzi Ezzedine Ramzi that day, Syrian chief negotiator Bashar al-Jaafari reported that his interlocutor had affirmed that the UN considered the Geneva talks to be ongoing despite the HNC's withdrawal. The Syrian diplomat branded the HNC "a mix of extremists, terrorists and mercenaries at the beck and call of the al-Saud family," the rulers of Saudi Arabia. The HNC's Saudi and Turkish backers "don't believe in the political solution," he said, but had been forced to the negotiating table against their will. Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) co-chairman Saleh Muslim said yesterday that there was still a chance for peace - if his party was included in the peace talks. "The talks in Geneva have almost failed," he said in Moscow. "There are sides that believe the crisis can be solved militarily and we disagree with that." Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg also said that February's ceasefire remained the "best basis for a negotiated, peaceful solution" to Syria's civil war. The Red Cross and UN have delivered their largest-ever humanitarian aid convoy to rebel-held Rastan in Homs province, home to some 50,000 people. On Wednesday bilateral exchange evacuations of civilians and militants who had destroyed their heavy weapons began in several provinces. From: <http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-127f-Rebels-talks-walkout-risks-new-to tal-war,-says-Russia#.Vxm-d_l9600> http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-127f-Rebels-talks-walkout-risks-new-tot al-war,-says-Russia#.Vxm-d_l9600 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
