The United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, unexpectedly came to the Syrian opposition’s hotel in Geneva, late last night, where he held a prolonged meeting with them, which he defined as “not just procedural” but “substantive”. “We had a very in-depth discussion, I think we had the opportunity to go deeply in all the items of the agenda and that I think has been quite useful. So, tomorrow is an important day, because we will meet the government and I will see whether they are also capable or willing to go deeply into the agenda, meanwhile the opposition obviously is seriously interested in going deeply and I think for that day it is quite an important point for us… It’s not just procedural, it is substantive,” said de Mistura.
Syrian peace talks in Geneva edged forward last night, for the first time in six days of UN-led talks, as both sides saw hope of shaping the agenda to their liking. The opposition said President Bashar al-Assad’s negotiators had been pushed by his Russian allies to address the issue of political transition in the war-torn-country, which Assad’s opponents say must involve the Syrian President handing over power. A source to the Syrian government delegation said there was agreement that tackling “terrorism” – a broad term which Damascus uses to describe all armed opposition to the president – would also be on the agenda. It remained unclear whether the two goals were compatible or if the two sides were on a collision course, as in past negotiating rounds a year ago. Diplomats said that progress in negotiations might be a milestone, yet more progress is in question, as Moscow continues to hold to its long-standing positions that the Syrian rebels were too divided to negotiate with.