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 The Saudi-backed opposition was meeting on Tuesday to decide
whether to attend the talks which U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura aims
to open in Geneva on Friday, ushering in months of negotiations with
delegates in separate rooms.
Opposition official Asaad al-Zoubi told Arabic news channel
Al-Hadath that he was pessimistic, though the final decision would
be taken at the opposition meeting in Riyadh.
De Mistura was expected to issue invitations on Tuesday.
"It's going to be very low-key proximity talks," U.N. spokesman
Ahmad Fawzi told journalists in Geneva.
A Western diplomat said the aim was to get the talks started without
further delay. "There is a little bit of fear that if the talks
don't start soon they'll never really get going."
The Syrian government, which is taking territory from the rebels
with the help of Russian air strikes and Iranian ground forces, has
already said it will attend.
 The opposition comprising the recently formed High Negotiations
Committee (HNC) has however repeatedly said the government and its
allies must halt bombardments and lift blockades of besieged areas
before they will go to any talks.
Zoubi, who is due to head the opposition delegation to any
negotiations, told Reuters that without the implementation of
goodwill steps including release of detainees "there will be no
negotiations". "This is what the HNC has laid down," he said.
Reflecting opposition misgivings about the process, he told
Al-Hadath that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had tabled Iranian
and Russian ideas about Syria at a recent meeting with opposition
leader Riad Hijab.
"It was not comfortable for us for America - even in theory or
partially - to adopt what came in the Iranian and Russian
initiatives," Zoubi said in the interview.
He also heaped criticism on de Mistura, saying the U.N. Syria envoy
"cannot impose conditions" on the opposition.
The U.S. Special Envoy for Syria, Michael Ratney, urged the
opposition to attend the talks.
"Our advice to the Syrian opposition is to take advantage of this
opportunity to put the intentions of the regime to the test and to
expose in front of international public opinion which are the
parties serious in reaching a political settlement in Syria and
which are not," he said.
LOST LEGITIMACY
The United States has supported the opposition to President Bashar
al-Assad, who it says has lost legitimacy and must leave power. But
the opposition has been increasingly critical of U.S. policy. Hijab
said earlier this month the United States had backtracked on its
position over Syria, softening its stance to accommodate Russia.
Preparations for the talks have been beset by problems including a
dispute over who should represent the opposition.
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Russia has sought to expand the opposition delegation to include a
powerful Kurdish faction that controls wide areas of northern Syria.
The Sunni Arab opposition say the Kurdish PYD party should be part
of the government delegation.
De Mistura has said the Geneva meeting will aim to kick off six
months of talks, first seeking a ceasefire, later working toward a
political settlement to a war that has killed more than 250,000
people and forced than 10 million to flee.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday it would be
impossible to reach a peace agreement in Syria without inviting
Kurds to take part in the negotiating process.
It would be "unfair" and "counter-productive" to stop Syrian Kurds
from taking part in the peace talks, Lavrov said. He also said some
participants of the peace process had been "capricious" in refusing
to negotiate.
Turkey, a major sponsor of the insurgency, however said it was
against the participation of the Kurdish YPG militia which is
affiliated to the PYD. The YPG has become an important partner in
the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State.
Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the PKK, which it sees as a
terrorist organization. "Those who are recognizing them as a
legitimate partner, they don't live in the reality of the region,
nobody can convince us that these people are for peace,” Turkish
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told CNN.
The Syrian government and its allies have made significant gains
against rebels in western Syria in recent weeks.
On Monday they captured the rebel-held town of Sheikh Maskin in
southern Syria near the border with Jordan. It was the first
significant gain for Damascus in that area since the start of the
Russian intervention on Sept. 30.
In recent weeks government forces and their allies have also
captured two strategic towns in the northwestern province of
Latakia, where they are trying to seal the border to cut insurgent
supply lines to Turkey.
(Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Andrew Osborn in
Moscow, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Nick Tattersall in Turkey;
Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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