"The HNC, a Saudi-backed bloc, had previously said it would not participate in the U.N.-sponsored talks without an end to the bombardment of civilians by Russian and Syrian forces, a lifting of blockades in rebel-held areas and the release of detainees.
An HNC statement said the opposition decided to take part in the talks after receiving assurances from friendly countries about those humanitarian issues, and that a delegation headed by HNC chief Riad Hijab will leave Saudi Arabia for Geneva on Saturday.
Only once the conditions are met will the delegation negotiate, the statement added." oregonlive.om
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ROTFL
R+6 are having a good time watching the US and the other Western countries make fools of themselves.
The "rebels" are a mish-mash of some 1500 jihadi and other anti-government groups that share the sponsorship of the Gulfies (read Saudis), Erdoganist Turkey, the US, and other cats and dogs on the world scene.
IMO the Geneva talks are a sick joke. Western diplomats always believe in the magic of diplomacy and have been taught to ignore battlefield realities in actual war situations. That is convenient for them since it adds dignity to their trade.
Unfortunately that tendency leads to "fantasy land" beliefs. One of which is, as I have mentioned before, the notion that the course of an ongoing war in which one side is winning can be diverted to an ending in which the losers become the winners.
At Geneva, the HNC, now clearly "losers," are presenting demands that amount to an insistence that the Western diplomats force R+6 to surrender power to them.
As I said, ROTFL. pl
http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2016/01/peace_talks_aimed_at_ending_sy.html