De Mistura: “A new surprising and disturbing condition” from Assad regime for negotiations

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Syria’s White Helmets, the Russia Propaganda Machine, and the “Agitprop” Activists

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura (pictured) has blamed the Assad regime for undermining the Geneva talks and for maintaining sieges on opposition areas.

In his harshest criticism of the Assad regime to date, De Mistura told the UN Security Council about last week’s regime walkout from the political discussions, refusing direct negotiations with the opposition.

The envoy said he had met with the opposition 11 times and found them ready to engage in depth on all four issues: governance, a new Constitution, elections, and “fighting terrorism”. In contrast, the regime delegation set down preconditions and refused to discuss any topic except counter-terrorism.

The regime group, led by UN Ambassador Bashar al-Ja’afari, refused any substantive discussion unless there was a guarantee that the future of Bashar al-Assad would not be raised.

Syria Daily, Dec 15: Geneva Talks Collapse Amid Regime Refusal of Direct Negotiations

However, De Mistura said on Tuesday that the delegation went farther with “a new surprising and disturbing condition”. Echoing Assad’s language, they said the regime must have “full territorial control” of the country and an end to all “terrorists” before any progress can be made in areas such as the Constitution.

De Mistura added that “no progress” was made on urgent humanitarian issues such as sieges, political prisoners, and missing and kidnapped persons.

He called for further definition of the process for the Constitution and elections:

The time has come for the U.N. to provide some specific elaborations…and therefore stimulate a wider conversation. The U.N. has provided electoral assistance to a majority of UN member states…so we do have experience.

These propositions are advanced in good faith by the UN in order to promote fresh thinking in all quarters.

The envoy did not set out any steps that could bring the regime into substantive discussions. Instead he asserted that the UN mandate for a political resolution could be implemented “even in the context of the realpolitik of 2018″.

France’s Macron: “Syrians’ Enemy is Bashar al-Assad”

French President Emmanuel Macron, continuing his balance of political talks with a vision of Bashar al-Assad’s departure from power, has responded to Assad’s pushback that Paris is supporting “terrorism”.

Macron said on Monday that, while “we have to speak to Assad and his representatives”, Assad “will have to respond to his crimes before his people, before the international courts”.

See Syria Daily, Dec 18: Macron — Assad is “Enemy of Syrian People”…But We Have to Speak With Him

Assad countered with his allegations that France and UN envoy Staffan de Mistura represent unnamed “vocal groups that work for dollars”, prompting Macron to say in a Tuesday press conference alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:

I don’t think Syria boils down to Bashar al-Assad,. The Syrian people have an enemy. There are millions of Syrians outside of Syria and they have an enemy who is Bashar al-Assad. That’s the reality.

Macron also said that an attempt by Assad to get around political discussion, through separate Russian-Iranian-Turkish talks in the Kazakh capital Astana and a proposed Russian-organized “national congress”, will fail because they do not include the opposition and try to impose a solution on Syrians:

I don’t believe in a resolution of a conflict by external forces that want to impose a peace…and I don’t believe in indulging someone that thinks their country boils down to them.

Report: 19 Killed in Pro-Assad Strikes on Idlib Province

Overnight airstrikes have reportedly killed 19 civilians, seven of them children, and wounded more than 25 in opposition-held Idlib Province in northwest Syria.

Local sources said the attacks by Russian jets hit a residential district of the town of Manshurin in northwestern Syria. They said 13 members of a single family are among the dead. Videos show the bodies of slain children.

Residents are still working this morning to clear rubble from buildings. One has been flattened.

Footage of the first moments after the attack:

Pro-Assad forces are trying to retake territory in southeastern Idlib Province, almost all of which has been controlled by the opposition since spring 2015.

Russia has declared a “de-escalation” but, under the pretext that it is attacking the hardline Islamists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has been carrying out airstrikes.

Pro-Assad forces also reportedly bombarded northern Hama Province on Tuesday night:

Russia Continues Campaign Against Article Exposing Its Disinformation v. White Helmets

Russian State media is continuing its attempts to discredit an article revealing and dissecting its disinformation campaign against the White Helmets civil defense organization.

On Monday, The Guardian published Olivia Solon’s exposé of a “network of anti-imperialist activists, conspiracy theorists, and trolls” supported and promoted by Russian outlets.

See Syria’s White Helmets, the Russia Propaganda Machine, and the “Agitprop” Activists

Russia’s RT tried to mock the article on Tuesday, without publishing any information to counter the claims.

Today it’s the turn of Sputnik, whose writer John Wight tries to smear Solon and The Guardian by comparing them to Joseph Goebbels, as he complains about “an organization elevated to near-mythical status by Western journalists and politicians in recent years”.

US Rejects Russian Pressure for Withdrawal

The US military has pushed back against Russian pressure for the withdrawal of coalition forces backing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

A spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve said Tuesday that American personnel will remain in Syria “until the political process, the Geneva process, makes progress”.

The Pentagon said last week that about 3,000 US troops are in the country.

The US has provided personnel and weapons in support of the SDF since its creation in autumn 2015 to fight the Islamic State. However, with ISIS losing all major positions, Russia is pursuing a propaganda campaign for American withdrawal, opening the way for pro-Assad forces to press the SDF to give up key areas such as oil and gas fields.

The coalition spokesperson said yesterday that ISIS now has less than 3,000 fighters in Syria; however, he added:

Assad has not demonstrated long-term ability to prevent ISIS from resurgence or threatening us or our partners….There is legitimacy for the @Coalition being in Iraq and in Syria, and for remaining there until some kind of process — political process takes ground.

Asked whether the US will help defend SDF if it is attacked by pro-Assad forces, the spokesman said, “I think that we have proven that in the past, both in al-Tanf [the US base on the Iraq border], and in the north just outside of Raqqa. We will continue to support our partners and their efforts to defeat ISIS.