U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, kicked off the eighth round of intra-Syrian talks yesterday, holding a first meeting with the newly unified Syrian opposition. The government delegation however, which was scheduled to arrive in Geneva today, had delayed its planned departure for the talks because of the opposition’s insistence that Syrian President Bashar Assad step down. De Mistura said that as part of the UN-brokered talks, the government and opposition would have a chance to negotiate directly for the first time, but it was not clear if they would choose to do so. A breakthrough in the talks is seen as unlikely as President Assad and his allies push for total military victory in Syria’s civil war, now in its seventh year, and his opponents stick by their demands, to see the Syrian leader step down under any political transition. A Syrian government official told TV7 that “the demands by the Syrian opposition, considering the reality on the ground, are completely and utterly absurd.” The official, who asked to remain anonymous as he was not permitted to talk on the matter, stressed that the government of Damascus has most of Syria under its control, and would not consider negotiating with a group of rebels whom are clearly detached from reality. Nevertheless, the Syrian official indicated his government’s willingness to advance a political process that would ultimately bring about a much-desired political solution – a solution of peace, which the official emphasized “can only be achieved by President Bashar Assad.”
