Syria opposition shuns Russia peace initiative

(MENAFN- Arab News) BEIRUT: A Russian initiative to host peace talks this month between the Syrian government and its opponents appears to be unraveling as prominent Syrian opposition figures shun the prospective negotiations amid deep distrust of Moscow and concerns the talks hold no chance of success.The faltering effort suggests that even after four years and at least 220000 people killed the antagonists in Syria's civil war are far from burning themselves out and will likely keep fighting for a more decisive battlefield advantage before any real talks can take place.The planned meetings in Moscow scheduled to start Jan. 26 would be the first on Syria since a UN-sponsored conference in Geneva collapsed early last year after making no headway.But the Syrian tableau has changed dramatically since then.President Bashar Assad faces growing resentment among his supporters in the wake of bloody defeats while his main patrons Russia and Iran are feeling the pinch from the global plunge in oil prices. Syria's mainstream opposition political and armed teeters on the brink of irrelevance and the extremist Islamic State group has seized control of large chunk of northeastern Syria and neighboring Iraq.Mouaz Al-Khatib a former Coalition president and a longtime proponent of peace talks turned down his invitation as did members of the Damascus-based opposition party known as Building the Syrian State. That party's leader has been jailed since November on charges that include weakening national sentiment and weakening the morale of the nation.The biggest question hangs over the Coalition which sat across the table from Syrian government representatives at last year's Geneva talks. The group is backed by Western and Arab Gulf powers but has little credibility with any armed opposition groups inside Syria.Its newly elected chief Khaled Khoja has said the group will not attend the talks.