Will the Syrian opposition meet on February 25th?

Today at the meeting of the International Support Group of Syria in Munich, Russia will submit its proposals to resolve the conflict in Syria, including the establishment of a ceasefire. On January 28th the inter-Syrian negotiations were formally launched, but they were soon suspended due to the lack of a key opposition force. The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has declared a pause until February 25th. The reason for the forced break was a position formed in the Riyadh opposition, which has put forward as a condition of their participation in the dialogue a cessation of the offensive operations by the Syrian army, supported by Russian aviation.

Among other contradictions in the negotiations, one stumbling block could be the desire of the Kurds to participate in the Geneva inter-Syrian talks. The Special Representative of Western Kurdistan in Europe and the United States, Senam Mohammed, believes that the failure to send the Kurdish Democratic Union Party an invitation to the inter-Syrian talks is an error by the UN envoy Staffan de Mistura.

A participant in the inter-Syrian negotiations in Geneva, the secretary of the ‘People’s Will’ party, a member of the Front for Change and Liberation, Qadri Jamil, said that the situation not only in Syria, but also in the whole region is changing very quickly: "There is a new reality, which is formed as a result of a dynamic change in the balance of power. Some politicians sustain the hope of being able to return to the past. It is necessary to firmly say that the unipolar world has been consigned to the past and will not return. The United States, of course, is a strong state, but it is not the only all-encompassing force. Other forces have emerged, and this is evident in the policy behavior of the United States. Not only with regard to the Syrian issue, but also in relation to a number of other problems."

Meanwhile, according to Qadri Jamil, "the problem is not only in the US, which finds it difficult to adapt to the new situation, it is now more pragmatic than any other state. The problem is in the United States’ allies, who believe what is happening is a temporary situation. The regional forces, including some Syrian forces, too, believe in the possibility of returning to the past, this crisis, which Syria is going through now is the most difficult not only in the humanitarian sphere,  but also in the military sphere since the end of World War II."

According to the head of the Front for Change and Liberation, there is a fundamental difference between the Geneva-3 and Geneva-2 talks: ‘’Geneva-2 did not provide a clear international position on the solution of the Syrian problem, at that conference not all sides of the Syrian conflict had a reasonable and balanced presence. The Conference did not fully represent the Syrian opposition. And the opposition, that met in Moscow, in Cairo, in Riyadh and in Astana should be present. By February 25th it is necessary to bury Geneva-2, that it has ceased to influence Geneva-3."