The tussle over humanitarian assistance to the embattled city of Homs is masking the latent contest for political ascendancy between the opposition and the government during ongoing talks in Geneva.
Syrian government troops dominate Homs — once a focal point of the conflict — but parts of the old city are still under the opposition’s control. Analysts say that the government apprehends that the humanitarian steps that are being proposed can be used by the opposition as cover for easing pressure on the besieged militants that are embedded among civilians in pockets inside the city.
BBC is reporting that on Sunday, the Syrian government agreed that women and children could leave, but names of men who wished to relocate needed to be listed. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said that the armed groups were preventing women and children from leaving, a veiled allegation that opposition fighters were using civilians as cover to hide.
It was unclear whether the opposition, on the defensive in Homs, was relenting to the government’s demand to screen and record identities of the men — potentially the most likely to bear arms or support the opposition in other ways, against the State.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. and Arab League envoy, said in Geneva that the opposition had agreed to provide lists to the government of detainees that the armed groups were holding. He also hoped that a humanitarian convoy from the U.N. and the Red Cross would enter Homs on Monday.
Unlike the opposition, the Syrian government seemed wary of making Homs the focal point of discussions that were being routed through Mr. Brahimi, even when the two delegations sat face-to-face across the table in Geneva. Instead, it wanted to target religious extremism.
“The issue of terrorism is discussed every day as it is a basic part of the issues we discuss, and without ending terrorism no one can deliver humanitarian aid or start a political track,” said Bouthina Shaaban, presidential adviser who is part of the official delegation in the Swiss city. She attributed the opposition’s insistence on tackling the situation in Homs first, to the possibility that “they [the opposition] have some loyal gunmen there”.
Contrary to the opposition’s call for a localised initiative, the Syrian government has announced its willingness to restore security and safety to the entire country.
During their interaction so far, it is apparent that the two sides differ fundamentally on the sequential steps that, if pursued, could yield a political transition in Syria.
Ms. Shaaban insisted that a termination of “terrorism” and restoration of humanitarian relief must precede broader political initiatives. She pointed out in a statement that “Geneva 2 conference is first and foremost meant to stop terrorism from which the Syrian people have been suffering, stopping the shedding of the Syrian blood, restoring security and stability to Syria and having all establishments back to work, and then it is up to the Syrians to decide upon the political track they want.”
On the contrary, the opposition is demanding that formation of a transitional government in Damascus as its priority.
It said this initiative would be in tune with the previous Geneva agreement, which called for an end to violence and the establishment of an interim government that “could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups”. The opposition has also been seeking the release of prisoners that have been detained by the government.
The ongoing dialogue has also opened the debate on engaging sections of the extremist groups in talks in the future.
But the Russians have rejected parleys with all armed religious extremist groups, refusing to distinguish between their less hardline and more virulent variants.
In an interview with Russia’s NTV, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov firmly rejected dialogue with “groups like Jabhat al-Nusra [al-Nusra Front], the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham [ISIS] and other branches of al-Qaeda organisation”.
