DOHA: A key member of the Syrian opposition said yesterday a “final” decision to attend or boycott a UN-backed peace conference dubbed Geneva 2 would be taken later this month. The National Coalition, an opposition umbrella group increasingly at odds with rebels on the ground, has previously said it would attend the Geneva talks slated for January 22 but with conditions.
Crucially, it insists that President Bashar al-Assad play no role in Syria’s future — a demand strongly rejected by Damascus.
“A final decision will be taken during a meeting of the Coalition in mid-December in Istanbul,” opposition member George Sabra said in the Qatari capital, Doha. However he added that there was no certainty the conference would go ahead.
“I have doubts that the conference will take place,” said Sabra, who heads the Syrian National Council (SNC), the largest member of the National Coalition.
The SNC has in the past said it would not attend the Geneva 2 talks. “No one will dare go to Geneva without consulting with the forces on the ground who retain the real power” to negotiate, he said. The Geneva conference is aimed at ending the nearly three-year-old civil war, a bloody stalemate which has killed an estimated 126,000 people and driven millions from their homes.
Rebel Free Syrian Army chief Selim Idriss has said he would be ready to go to Geneva for the talks if a string of demands are met, including Assad stepping aside.
Regime forces kill 5 children
Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad have killed at least five children during fighting for the town of Nabak north of the capital Damascus, activists said yesterday.
The fighting in Nabak pits Assad’s army and allied militia against rebel factions including two linked to al Qaeda, the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based pro-opposition monitoring group, said five children were shot dead when pro-Assad forces entered Nabak’s industrial area.
Activists posted images on social media of the bloodied corpses of five children and said up to seven had been killed. Some blamed a Shia militia for the killings, but this could not be confirmed. Agencies
