Syria Support Movement solidarity with the Syrian people
A date has provisionally been set for long-delayed peace talks between the two sides in Syria in Geneva Photo: REUTERS
Oct 17, 2013, Telegraph
A new attempt by the international community to forge a peace deal for Syria could begin late next month, according to the Syrian government.
After a week of growing speculation that the long-sought “Geneva 2” peace conference had finally been agreed, Qadri Jamil, a Syrian deputy prime minister, told reporters in Moscow it could take place on November 23-24.
“Today no aspect of the Syrian crisis can be solved without it,” he said, though he added that the date was as yet “hypothetical”. “This will lead to the launch of a political process and cessation of violence.”
The conference, if confirmed, would be a sign of an increasing belief on all sides that the war has ground to a stalemate.
In addition, the western powers who have pledged support to the opposition fear that inside Syria the fighting is now being dominated by Islamist militant groups. Turkey, the rebels’ principal backer among Syria’s neighbours, fired on militant positions on Wednesday after a shell believed to be from an intra-rebel battle landed on the Turkish side of the border.
