Syria regime seeks changes to UN peace plan in Geneva

GENEVA

The delegation of Bashar al-Assad regime involved in peace talks in Geneva has proposed amendments to the UN document outlining steps to achieve an elusive political solution in the war-ravaged Syria.

The regime delegation led by its envoy to the UN, Ambassador Bashar Jaafari, met with UN Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura Friday.

Jaafari termed the meeting as "constructive and fruitful".

"We discussed with de Mistura his paper on the fundamental principles for political solution for crisis in Syria, which is a paper that he submitted to us at the last day of the last round," he said.

"Today, we submitted to de Mistura Syrian amendments to this paper. We ask to examine the paper with his team and submitted [it] for review by other groups," he added.

In March, at the end of last round of talks, de Mistura handed a document to the Syrian regime and opposition in Geneva, outlining 12 basic principles for achieving a political solution to the Syria crisis. He said back then that neither the regime delegation nor the opposition delegation had rejected this document.

De Mistura later also met the Syrian opposition delegation in Geneva.

In remarks made to the media following the meeting, Syria's main opposition High Negotiations Committee delegation head Asaad al-Zoabi said the Syrian regime had allegedly forced the displacement of more than 30,000 civilians from Aleppo towards Turkish borders.

Highlighting Assad regime’s military assault in Aleppo Friday, al-Zoabi said: "The regime is sending a strong message that it does not want a political solution but rather a military solution that would bring destruction to all of the country."

He called for pressure on the regime to stop it from violating the cessation-of-hostilities agreement in Syria.

"The base of this problem is Assad and his ruling group and a transitional governing body will not include Assad and ruling group,” he added.

The opposition also spoke with de Mistura about the release of all detainees in Syria, he said.

No official meetings of the intra-Syrian talks are scheduled to take place over this weekend in Geneva, which are planned to resume Monday.

The latest round of peace talks to resolve the ongoing Syria conflict began in Geneva Wednesday, with the UN envoy still unable to give a date for a face-to-face meeting between the warring opposition and regime delegations.

On Wednesday, de Mistura had met the opposition delegation.

The Syrian regime delegation joined the talks Friday after the Assad regime requested to resume talks following parliamentary elections in Syria Wednesday.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to the UN.