The US was shut out of a new round of secret negotiations between Russia and Syrian rebel factions hosted by Turkish officials in Ankara, a source within the Syrian opposition#told Business Insider on Monday.
The opposition source, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the negotiations, said American officials were not invited to take part in the talks due to recent tensions between Turkey and the US.
"The US is totally out of these talks," the source said. "And they're pretty angry about it."
...
Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, did not say last week#whether Russian officials were negotiating with Syrian opposition factions#in Ankara.
"We need no mediators with the Syrian opposition, we have direct contacts," he told the Russian news agency TASS.
Among those present at the Ankara talks, according to the opposition source, were representatives from the Islamist rebel coalition Ahrar al-Sham. The#Islamist al-Zenki rebel faction, which#received US-made anti-tank missiles between#2014 and 2015, was also present — reportedly at Russia's invitation.
The talks have been aimed at securing a deal to#deliver humanitarian aid#into eastern Aleppo — the Syrian city that has been besieged and#under relentless aerial bombardment for more than#three weeks — in exchange for the evacuation of extremists groups like former Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS).
“Russia has indicated it would be willing to accept aid access and local council control of the east, in return for JFS's withdrawal,” Charles Lister, a Syria researcher with close ties the opposition, tweeted on Saturday.
...
Further complicating the negotiations is the feeling that Russia — which changed the tide of the war when it intervened on behalf of Assad in October 2015#— may be#losing influence in Aleppo.
"
The Russians would prefer to have a ceasefire, to help their relations with Turkey and show they are interested in peace,
but the regime and the Iranians – they don’t care,"#Bassam Barabandi, a former Syrian diplomat who is now political adviser to the opposition High Negotiations Committee, told The Guardian last week.
"They want to take all of Aleppo,"#Barabandi said. "
For the Russians, failing to achieve a ceasefire in Aleppo will show just how weak they are."
Bookmarks