DAMASCUS
The
Syrian government and rebels held fast on Tuesday to their
uncompromising stances toward each other, a day after a date was
announced for them to sit down to peace talks in Geneva.
The
opposition National Coalition repeated its long-standing rejection of
President Bashar al-Assad having any role in the country's future, while
the regime said it would press on with its war against "terrorism."
Meanwhile, a car bomb killed 15 people at a bus stop west of Damascus, state television said.
And
jihadists reportedly executed a rebel leader for apostasy, another sign
of the growing fissions in the opposition camp in a war that has taken
more than 120,000 lives and displaced millions.
The
Coalition said it "affirms its absolute rejection of Assad or any of the
criminals responsible for killing the Syrian people playing any role in
a transitional body... or in Syria's political future."
But
it said it considers as "very positive" that a date has been set,
following UN chief Ban Ki-moon's announcement Monday that talks would
begin in Geneva on January 22.
'GENEVA II'
It
also said that, in preparing for what has been dubbed Geneva II, world
powers must "ensure humanitarian supplies reach all areas of Syria,
while all prisoners must be set free" and that there should be "an
immediate end" to massacres in the country.
Geneva II
must "implement all the provisions of Geneva I", which in June 2012
envisaged the creation a transitional government, but did not stipulate
that Assad should step down.
For its part, the regime
has said that there should be no preconditions for talks, and Assad has
said he might be willing to run for re-election in 2014.
On
Tuesday, pro-regime daily Al-Watan cited a letter from Foreign Minister
Walid Muallem to the United Nations as saying "the war against the
terrorism that is targeting Syrian citizens is key to ensuring the
success of any peaceful solution."
In the first
official reaction to the announcement of a date for talks, Muallem
added: "An end to violence and terrorism requires the countries that
support the armed terrorist groups... stop arming, funding and giving
them logistical support."
Muallem singled out Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey by name.
Ever
since a brutal government crackdown on pro-democracy protests in March
2011, the regime has refused to recognise that there is a movement
demanding political change and blames the violence on a foreign-backed
"terrorist" plot.
FIGHTING RAGES ON
On
the ground, state television said a suicide bomber blew up a car in
front of a bus stop in Somariyeh, west of the capital, killing at least
15 people and wounding more than 30.
Meanwhile, the
jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant executed a rebel battalion
leader in northern Syria, accusing him of "apostasy," the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said.
And the jihadist Al-Nusra Front said it had executed five men after accusing them of being "collaborators" with the regime.
In
Nabuk, in the Qalamoun area of Damascus province, air force bombing
killed at least seven people, among them three children, said the
Britain-based Observatory.
Fighting has raged in
Qalamoun for the past week, after the army backed by militiamen,
including Lebanese Shiite troops from Hezbollah, launched an offensive
aimed at taking back rebel enclaves there.
While the
army recaptured the key town of Qara last week, the rebels advanced on
Deir Attiyeh nearby, taking all it except its hospital and a small hill.
Meanwhile,
Health Minister Saad al-Nayef accused the rebels of committing a
"massacre" there, killing "five doctors, five nurses and two ambulance
drivers.
"
"
In the Eastern Ghouta area outside Damascus,
the army launched five surface-to-surface missiles at Marj, four days
after rebels announced a counter-offensive aimed at breaking the
year-long siege of the area.
According to the
Observatory, Hezbollah is also backing the regular army in Eastern
Ghouta, and has sent "hundreds of fighters" there.
While
the rebels have not yet broken the siege, they appear to have halted a
weeks-long army advance on their positions east of the capital.
In
other developments, a report published Tuesday by Syria's Export
Development Organisation said foreign trade has virtually collapsed
since the uprising began.
Exports, including petroleum,
have "dropped from $1.9 billion (1.4 billion euros) in the first
quarter of 2011 to $94.7 million in the same period of 2013," a fall of
95 percent, the report said.
Imports, meanwhile, plunged by 88 percent -- from $4.1 billion to $818 million.
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