GENEVA, (Reuters) – The Syrian government and its opponents will hold their first joint meeting today to launch peace talks aimed at resolving nearly three years of civil war, after negotiations almost collapsed before they began.
With international divisions over how to end the conflict putting an overall political solution out of reach for now, the two sides will focus on smaller steps. They will spend the first two days discussing a plan to provide humanitarian access for the city of Homs, where rebels are surrounded in central districts by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, diplomatic sources said.
“The practical aspects have been worked on, things are ready and if the government doesn’t put a block on it then it could happen quickly,” one of the sources said.
Even with the talks back on track and expected to last a week, deep mutual mistrust and the absence from Geneva of powerful Islamist opposition groups and President Bashar al-Assad’s ally Iran make substantial progress very difficult.
The face-to-face meeting had been planned for Friday, but the opposition said early on it would not meet the government side unless it first agreed to sign up to a 2012 statement by world powers calling for a transitional government in Syria.
The government rejected the demand and said its negotiators would leave Geneva unless serious talks began within a day.
After separate meetings with government and opposition delegations, U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi indicated on Friday afternoon their argument, which centres on whether or not Assad would have to step down, had been put to one side.
