Syria opposition to meet Jan 26 to discuss UN-brokered talksJanuary 25, 2016 - 18:23 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Syria's opposition will meet on Tuesday, January 26 to discuss UN-led efforts to convene delayed peace talks, an opposition spokesman said, repeating a call for goodwill steps from the government including a halt to bombardments before any talks happen, Reuters reports. The United Nations is trying to convene the first talks in two years to end Syria's nearly 5-year-old civil war, but the effort so far has been held up in part by disagreement over who should be invited to attend to represent the opposition. Salim al-Muslat, a spokesman for the Syrian opposition's High Negotiation Committee (HNC), accused Russia and the Syrian government of throwing obstacles in the path of talks that were originally due to begin in Geneva on Monday. "We want to realize pure humanitarian matters. They are not preconditions. It is an international resolution at least part of which must be implemented, so we see there is seriousness and good will in this matter," al-Muslat said on Saudi-owned Arabic news channel Arabiya al-Hadath. "Unfortunately, it is not possible to sit and talk to anyone without the suffering being lifted first." Syria's civil war has killed 250,000 people and driven more than 10 million from their homes. It has drawn in most world powers, with the United States leading an air campaign against Islamic State fighters that control eastern Syria and northern Iraq. Russia, which entered the war last year with a separate air campaign against opponents of its ally President Bashar al-Assad, says it wants opposition figures it calls terrorists barred from talks, and wants to include groups like the Kurds who control wide parts of northern Syria. The main Sunni Arab opposition groups, who are supported by regional Arab governments, say they will not attend the talks unless they can choose their delegation. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |