Syria 'ready to participate' in Moscow peace talks
Source: AP-Excite
By ALBERT AJI and DIAA HADID
DAMASCUS (AP) — Syrian state-run TV said Saturday that the government is prepared to take part in peace talks hosted by Russia next month, but the unnamed foreign ministry official it cited suggested the scope of the negotiations would be limited to "preliminary" talks meant to pave the way for a conference in Syria itself.
The official was quoted as saying the government was "ready to participate in preparatory, advisory meetings in Moscow" that would "answer the aspirations of Syrians to find an exit from the crisis."
Russia's Foreign Ministry had said Thursday that it hoped to host peace talks after Jan. 20 between the Syrian government and its fractured opposition. The nearly four-year conflict has claimed over 200,000 lives, displaced a third of Syria's population, and nurtured an extremist group, the Islamic State, which now rules over vast swaths of Syria and neighboring Iraq.
Russia is a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The Western-backed Syrian opposition has insisted that any negotiated settlement include the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers, a demand rejected by Assad's government.
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Hadi Bahra, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, the country's main political opposition group, leaves a meeting with Arab League's Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby at the league's headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
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