Opposition wants Russian pressure for Syria deal

Geneva: Syria's opposition wants Russia and other states to put pressure on President Bashar Al Assad to engage in peace talks in Geneva to produce a political solution within six months, the chief of its delegation said at the start of negotiations on Wednesday.
"We want more pressure on the regime to engage in the negotiation and continue in the negotiation to reach a political solution in six months, as (U.N. Security Council Resolution) 2254 says,” Nasr Hariri said.
"Just speaking about a political transition without any advancement, we will lose our trust in the process and our people will lose their trust in us and in the process itself."
Syria's civil war is now in its seventh year and previous rounds of negotiations made virtually no progress, with no direct contact between the opposing delegations, who took turns to meet U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura.
The Syrian government delegation has always rejected the opposition's demand that Assad leave power, calling them "terrorists" who lacked the legitimacy to negotiate.
The government's position on the battlefield has strengthened dramatically since Russia joined the war on Assad's behalf two years ago, raising speculation that the opposition could soften its negotiating stance.
However, opposition delegates meeting last week issued a statement repeating their demand that Assad be excluded from any transitional government, a position which Damascus and its allies say is divorced from reality on the ground.
The talks were originally planned to last 4-5 days, but de Mistura now planned to extend them until December 15, Hariri said, adding that his team had come hoping for direct talks with the government delegation for the first time.
De Mistura has asked both sides to come to the talks without preconditions. Hariri said the opposition had no preconditions, but planned to talk about Assad's future as part of the negotiations. The talks are meant to cover four major issues: elections, governance, the constitution and fighting terrorism.
All four would be discussed, Hariri said, but it would not be possible to go straight into the core elements straightaway. "If we will speak about constitution or election under the current circumstances inside Syria with this kind of regime, I think it will be impossible," he said.