Syrian Opposition Confirms Attendance In Geneva Peace Talks
The quest for a peaceful end to Syria's ongoing multi-sided civil war has been halted several times since the nationwide rebellion broke out in 2011.
The international community, however, is now hoping to break the impasse when Syria's opposition camp confirmed attendance to Geneva peace talks brokered by United Nations.
But opposition leaders maintained that no direct talks will happen if the pre-requisites for direct negotiations are not established.
"We will go to Geneva to be present but we will not attend the talks at all unless the regime fulfils our humanitarian demands, which specify stoppage to bombings and starvation of civilians in besieged areas as a condition. Today we received guarantees that these issues will be addressed in addition to political transition of power," said Monzer Makhous, spokesman for the opposition's 17-strong Higher Negotiation Committee (HNC) as quoted by Al Jazeera.
Intervening bodies from the United Nations has been urging both sides (including their external patrons) to quit 'politics' and instead focus on issues that matter most to the Syrian people.
"At least we should see something on the ground there in Syria. We should really stop these massacres against our people. So please help us, save our children, save the many children of Syria. Then we are willing to do anything that will put an end to this war," remarked UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura as mentioned in a report by CNN.
The armed upheaval in Syria has already morphed into a confusing multi-dimensional war when ISIS, Russia, the West, and a number of wealthy Gulf nations entered the fray with hundreds of thousands of people believed to have died from the 5-year-old conflict.
With powerful countries bankrolling and pulling the strings from behind, seeing an immediate cessation to the war can be a painstaking endeavor. To date, an estimated 1,400 people were thought to have died from pounding Russian aerial strikes which boosted Assad's embattled regime's chances of survival as stated in a report by the Reuters.
