PHOTO: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem
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- Turkish Groups Send in Aid for 35,000 Fleeing Northern Aleppo Offensive
- Displaced Syrians on Turkish Border: “Dying is Much Better Than Being Humiliated in This Place”</li>
- Reports: Kurdish-Led Forces Take Deir Jamal on Turkish Border from Rebels
MONDAY FEATURE
Analysis: How Obama Betrayed the Syrian Uprising
Syria’s Assad regime has said that it is ready for “peace talks” even if the opposition-rebel bloc is absent.
Foreign Minister Walid Muallen said in an interview with the pro-regime al-Mayadeen television channel on Sunday, “”If they (the opposition delegation” don’t arrive, we will continue anyway.”
Discussions in Geneva ended after less than five days last week, amid intense Russian bombing and a regime-Hezbollah-Iranian offensive in northwest Syria. The opposition-rebel High Negotiations Committee said it will not join “proximity talks” with the regime without ceasefires and access to aid for besieged areas. The Assad regime said, before the discussions, that it would make no concessions.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura suspended the talks last Wednesday and scheduled a resumption for February 25. The UN and the 20-nation International Syria Support Group will convene in Munich on Thursday to discuss the situation.
See also Syria Feature: Kerry — “Go and Blame Your Opposition” for Russia’s Bombing
Moallem said the High Negotiations Committee, established in December at a conference in Saudi Arabia, had only gone to Geneva after pressure from Russia and the United States. “They have no authority and represent no one but themselves.”
Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime refused to recognize the HNC because of the involvement of rebel factions such as Jaish al-Islam. Moscow tried to put forth an alternative list of 15 delegates, including Kurdish representatives and politicians close to Russia, but the effort yielded no result in Geneva.
Turkish Groups Send in Aid for 35,000 Fleeing Northern Aleppo Offensive
Turkish humanitarian groups have set up camps and sent in truckloads of aid for an estimated 35,000 people trapped on the border after fleeing the regime-Russian-Hezbollah-Iranian offensive in northern Aleppo Province.
The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation is providing food for 20,000 refugees and said it set up a new camp with a capacity of 10,000, in addition to eight it already operates near the Bab al-Salama crossing.
Ankara has kept the border closed, but indicated that this might change given the surge of displaced Syrians.
“Turkey has reached the limit of its capacity to absorb the refugees,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said.
“But in the end, these people have nowhere else to go. Either they will die beneath the bombings… or we will open our borders.”
Turkey already hosts more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees.
Displaced Syrians on Turkish Border: “Dying is Much Better Than Being Humiliated in This Place”
Global Post profiles some of the tens of thousands of displaced Syrians, fleeing Russian bombing and a regime-Hezbollah-Iranian offensive in northern Aleppo Province, gathered on the closed Turkish border.
Ayman, a father of two, says, “The last day in Hraytan, before I left, three buildings were bombed with people inside. The house where I was living was half destroyed. So I decided to leave.”
However, he now says that he will return to his hometown: “Dying is much better than being humiliated in this place. There is no water, no services and my kids are sick.”
See Syria Daily, Feb 7: 10,000s Still Trapped at Turkish Border
Munir Mustafa, a member of Syrian Civil Defence, says of the situation in opposition-held parts of Aleppo city:
It’s very bad. We have Russian airstrikes three to six times a day. They use ballistic rockets, cluster bombs, vacuum bombs. Sometimes the regime supports the Russians with barrel bombs….
They think it’s safe, but there are no more safe places in Syria.
He adds that residents fear a “sectarian massacre” if regime forces invade and says: “People who are planning to stay are trying to store food, but they cannot afford to do much. People here are very poor now. They can only last for a few days.”
Reports: Kurdish-Led Forces Take Deir Jamal on Turkish Border from Rebels
Reports are circulating that the Kurdish militia YPG and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have taken the town of Deir Jamal, in northern Syria on the Turkish border, from rebels.
The Kurdish advance in northern Aleppo Province comes amid pressure on the rebels in the area by Russian bombing and a regime-Hezbollah-Iranian offensive.
Deir Jamal is south of the key border town of Azaz, west of the rebel frontline at Mare’ against the Islamic State, and north of Mayer and al-Zahraa, captured last week by the foreign-led regime offensive.
