BEIRUT—One of the major opposition groups in the Syrian war said Wednesday it will only attend the imminent Geneva peace talks if the sieges in the country are lifted and other conditions are met, casting further uncertainty on the talks scheduled to begin in two days.
Expectations are already low for any breakthroughs during talks that U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura has described as the start of a long term process of consultation between various parties to the conflict, rather than actual peace negotiations between the warring sides.
The talks are meant to start a political process to end the conflict that began in 2011 as a largely peaceful uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s rule but escalated into an all-out war after a harsh state crackdown. The plan calls for cease-fires in parallel to the talks, a new constitution and elections in a year and a half.
But there have been major tensions over who would be invited to the talks, and the opposition has demanded confidence-building measures from the government on humanitarian issues.
In a statement released at the end of daylong meetings in Saudi Arabia late Tuesday, the Higher Negotiating Committee referred to the “necessity of realizing genuine improvements on the ground before starting in the negotiating process.”
The Saudi-backed committee is headed by Riyad Hijab, a former prime minister who defected to the opposition in 2012. It represents a coalition that includes the main political opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, and many of the major rebel factions fighting in Syria.
