Gloomy outlook ahead of Geneva II conference on Syria

DAMASCUS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- While efforts are underway to make a peace conference on Syria possible, the surrounding atmospheres are not encouraging as both parties in the Syrian conflict seem to still have reservations and preconditions.

The Western-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC), the main opposition group in exile, threw a monkey wrench into the planned peace talks in Geneva on Sunday, saying that it won't attend the Geneva II peace conference unless there's a strict timetable for President Bashar al-Assad to leave power.

Striking a muscular tone at an Arab League foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo, SNC's Saudi-backed president, Ahmad Jarba, said Sunday his group would also not attend the conference if Iran is invited.

His recent remarks were made a couple of weeks after the oppositional Syrian National Council said it would pull out of the coalition if it accepted to take part in the planned conference.

In his speech Sunday, Jarba said they made their decision to keep their "resistance till the last breath," urging the opposition's patrons to render arm support to the rebels on ground.

Aside from the political opposition, the various rebel groups on ground, including the most powerful al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, said they are neither interested in peace talks nor recognize the coalition.

With all those facts in hand, the adamant stance of the opposition abroad may have been emanating from its zero-weight on ground, local analysts said.

On Friday, the UN-Arab League joint special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said "serious efforts" are being exerted to make the Geneva II conference on Syria possible.

He noted that the Syrian government had agreed to take part in the Geneva II conference, which is designed to hammer out a political solution to the long-lingering crisis.

Yet, Brahimi said the opposition was still mulling its representation amid statements that the broad-based Syrian National Coalition is placing preconditions to its participation.

He said that "there are unacceptable practices by both the government and the armed opposition," a remark that apparently raised the ire of the Syrian government whose information minister unleashed a barrage of criticism against Brahimi.

The Syrian government brands the rebels as "terrorists" which it refuses to dialogue with unless they abandon their weapons.

In one of his recent interviews, President Bashar al-Assad said there were no success factors to the Geneva II conference, citing the opposition stances. Syrian officials have also said that the administration would not hold talks with "terrorists," unless they lay down their arms.

Despite the murky situation, the internationally-backed conference is believed to take place within the next few weeks.

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