JEDDAH/ASTANA: New Syrian peace talks planned for the end of next month are a trick intended to deceive the Syrian people and the international community, opposition leaders told Arab News on Friday.
They spoke after Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed at their latest meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, to hold the talks in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi on Jan. 29 and 30.
The UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura said the Sochi plan should be judged on its ability to contribute to the UN-led negotiations in Geneva, which he urged the three countries to support.
Opposition leaders also backed the Geneva talks. “We told the Russians that Sochi will not be an alternative to Geneva, and we want to end the misery of the Syrian people and let humanitarian aid in,” said Ahmed Tohme, head of the opposition delegation in Astana.
And opposition spokesman Yahia Al-Aridi told Arab News: “There will be no Syrian peace talks in Sochi.” He described the plan as an attempt to “trick the world and Syrians that Russia brought a peace settlement to Syria.
“When Russia decides that bringing peace to Syria is a strategic option, they can easily pressure the regime to come to the talks, especially when they are its guarantors and protectors.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that the opposition was sabotaging the Geneva peace talks in a attempt to ruin Russian preparations for national dialogue in Syria, but Al-Aridi told Arab News: “This is upside-down logic. If Geneva succeeds, Sochi could be a contributor to the success of Geneva. But now, as the regime sabotaged or tried to sabotage Geneva, it is the regime that sabotaged Sochi.
“We are looking for a peaceful solution. We want an end to the Syrian nightmare.”
The opposition delegation said its focus was on making progress on the issues of detainees and forcibly disappeared people, which the Astana trio has been discussing since April without reaching agreement.
On Friday, they set up a working group on detainees, which de Mistura said was “commendable as a first step toward reaching a comprehensive arrangement between the conflicting parties.”
Bahia Madini, another Syrian opposition figure, urged Mistura on Friday to strengthen his role as a mediator and demand stronger and firmer action by the UN and the Security Council.
“Securing the release and fair treatment of detainees is a very important objective and so we must all continue to monitor this and ensure that progress is made on this issue sooner rather than later,” Madini, a journalist and human rights activist in the UK who fled regime persecution, told Arab News.
In Syria, meanwhile, the Assad regime and Russian forces killed dozens of civilians in new airstrikes on Eastern Ghouta, a suburb about 15km from the center of Damascus, Human Rights Watch said.
“The world is silently looking on as Russia and Syria tighten the noose around the suffering population of Eastern Ghouta with unlawful strikes, widely banned weapons, and a devastating siege,” said Lama Fakih, the group’s deputy Middle East director.
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New Syria peace talks in Sochi ‘a trick to deceive the world’
New Syria peace talks in Sochi ‘a trick to deceive the world’
Deal is signed in Beirut to transfer 300 Syrian prisoners in Lebanon to their home country
- Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri and Syria’s Justice Minister Mazhar Al-Wais expressed hope that this step will boost confidence and progress relations
- Lebanon and Syria have signed an agreement to transfer over 300 Syrian detainees from Lebanese prisons to continue their sentences in Syria
BEIRUT: Lebanon and Syria signed an agreement Friday to transfer more than 300 Syrians from Lebanese prisons to continue serving their sentences in their home country, a step that will likely help improve strained relations between the two neighbors.
The signing came a week after Lebanon’s Cabinet approved a treaty with Syria for the transfer of prisoners. The deal was signed at the government headquarters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, by Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri and Syria’s Justice Minister Mazhar Al-Wais.
“This is a very important first step on the road of a comprehensive treatement regarding Syrian prisoners in Lebanese prisons,” Mitri told reporters, adding that the implementation of the agreement would start on Saturday.
“Both countries want to move forward but there are some pending matters,” Al-Wais said. “This step will boost existing confidence and we hope that relations will progress more.”
Mitri said that next, officials from the two neighboring countries, will discuss the transfer of Syrian detainees who are still waiting trial in Lebanon.
Lebanon and Syria have a complicated history, with grievances on both sides. Many Lebanese resent nearly three decades of domination and military presence in their country by Syrian forces that ended in 2005.
Many Syrians resent the role played by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah when it entered Syria’s civil war that broke out in 2011 in defense of then-President Bashar Assad and his government. Assad was overthrown in December 2024 and fled to Russia where he is now in exile.
After Assad’s fall, relations with Syria’s new Islamist-led authorities remained tense and skirmishes occurred along the unmarked border between the two nations.
Mitri also said Saturday’s signing was “an expression of a joint political will that states that the Lebanese-Syrian relations are based on confidence and mutual respect.”
Asked whether the deal will include Lebanese citizens such as Sunni Muslim cleric Ahmed Al-Assir, Mitri said that it only covers Syrian prisoners.
There are about 2,500 Syrian prisoners in Lebanese prisons and jails, some of whom are held on charges related to their involvement with armed opposition groups that sought to overthrow Assad — in some cases, the same groups that are now ruling Syria.
Earlier this week, Mitri told The Associated Press that most of the detainees who will be transferred to Syria were not convicted of violent crimes. Some of those convicted of violent crimes may be transferred if they have already served seven and a half years of their sentence in Lebanon, he said.
The signing came a week after Lebanon’s Cabinet approved a treaty with Syria for the transfer of prisoners. The deal was signed at the government headquarters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, by Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri and Syria’s Justice Minister Mazhar Al-Wais.
“This is a very important first step on the road of a comprehensive treatement regarding Syrian prisoners in Lebanese prisons,” Mitri told reporters, adding that the implementation of the agreement would start on Saturday.
“Both countries want to move forward but there are some pending matters,” Al-Wais said. “This step will boost existing confidence and we hope that relations will progress more.”
Mitri said that next, officials from the two neighboring countries, will discuss the transfer of Syrian detainees who are still waiting trial in Lebanon.
Lebanon and Syria have a complicated history, with grievances on both sides. Many Lebanese resent nearly three decades of domination and military presence in their country by Syrian forces that ended in 2005.
Many Syrians resent the role played by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah when it entered Syria’s civil war that broke out in 2011 in defense of then-President Bashar Assad and his government. Assad was overthrown in December 2024 and fled to Russia where he is now in exile.
After Assad’s fall, relations with Syria’s new Islamist-led authorities remained tense and skirmishes occurred along the unmarked border between the two nations.
Mitri also said Saturday’s signing was “an expression of a joint political will that states that the Lebanese-Syrian relations are based on confidence and mutual respect.”
Asked whether the deal will include Lebanese citizens such as Sunni Muslim cleric Ahmed Al-Assir, Mitri said that it only covers Syrian prisoners.
There are about 2,500 Syrian prisoners in Lebanese prisons and jails, some of whom are held on charges related to their involvement with armed opposition groups that sought to overthrow Assad — in some cases, the same groups that are now ruling Syria.
Earlier this week, Mitri told The Associated Press that most of the detainees who will be transferred to Syria were not convicted of violent crimes. Some of those convicted of violent crimes may be transferred if they have already served seven and a half years of their sentence in Lebanon, he said.
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