Syria opposition, regime reject compromise ahead of talks

A handout picture shows Syrian government forces flashing the sign of victory and waving their national flag bearing the portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on November, 25 2013. 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. PHOTO | AFP  AFP

In Summary

• 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."
• 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.

By AFP
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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.

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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.