Participants in Vienna meeting on Syria to try to come to terms for ending war

VIENNA, October 30. /TASS/. A multilateral meeting on the Syrian crisis settlement will be held in the Austrian capital on Friday against the background of persisting deep disagreement among its participants over which steps should be taken to end the country’s civil war that has been going on for more than four years. At the same time, the intensification of peacekeeping efforts in this sphere and increasing the number of the conference participants give the hope, if not for a breakthrough, then at least for the launch of substantive efforts to find the ways to end the conflict. By the most conservative estimate, more than 200,000 people have fallen victim to the conflict, millions have been displaced, and the entire region is facing the real threat of a most severe and large-scale conflict with a major religious split. Iran at the negotiating table The current round of talks in Vienna will be attended by four times more delegations than a week ago - when the city hosted a meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia, the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. This time, the number of the meeting participants has been considerably expanded, and the biggest news was the invitation of Iran to the negotiating table. Russia initially supported the idea of Tehran’s participation in the search for peaceful conflict resolution, but the United States, supported by the Persian Gulf countries, among which Saudi Arabia plays the leading part, were strongly opposed to the Islamic Republic’s representatives’ participation in the talks. Washington and Riyadh exerted every effort to sideline the important regional player, pointing to its role in supporting Syria’s incumbent President Bashar Assad. Moreover, Saudi Arabia the majority of the population of which are followers of Sunni Islam did not need at all the strengthening of the positions of Shiite Iran in the region. However, apparently, due to the continuing deterioration of the situation in Syria, most of which has been seized by the extremists-fanatics of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization that is outlawed in Russia, Washington is ready to try to use the option offered by Moscow. The fate of Assad One of the most sensitive issues to be discussed at the negotiations is the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad. From the very beginning of the conflict, Washington, the European and Middle East capitals have been repeating that "Assad must go." These words have been used as a dogma that cannot by changed by definition. However, now it looks like the West has begun to adjust its stance. On October 28, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said it was very important to work out "a clear-cut schedule" for the transitional political process in Syria. He thus acknowledged that Assad, of course, must step down, but his resignation may occur over time and is not a condition for the beginning of negotiations. How to defeat terrorism The parties are also expected to discuss the fight against terrorism. All the Vienna meeting participants agree that it is necessary to eradicate this evil, but, actually, the situation is much more complicated - the absence of a common denominator between Moscow and Washington on how to act in Syria testified to this. The United States does not agree with Russia’s selection of targets for its Aerospace Force airstrikes, however, many experts in Washington admit that the airstrikes of the U.S.-led coalition on the IS facilities in Iraq and Syria delivered for more than a year have failed to stop the spread of the extremist group that aims to create a caliphate in the Middle East. Vienna talks’ participants The meeting should be attended by delegations from Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Germany, France, Egypt, Italy, the UK, Iraq and Lebanon. UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini will also join the negotiations. A number of bilateral meetings, as well as the Vienna "four" meeting with the participation of the foreign minister of Russia, the U.S. secretary of state, as well as the Saudi and Turkish foreign ministers, have preceded the multilateral-format meeting. Read more