Kerry: Talks to continue despite attack

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry appealed on Sunday to both sides to continue Syrian peace talks in Geneva despite a Daesh attack near a Shiite shrine in Damascus.
Kerry said the conflict could easily engulf the Middle East if no negotiated settlement was achieved. He also called for immediate steps to increase food aid and other humanitarian assistance to Syrians.
“In the end there is no military solution to the conflict,” Kerry said in a televised statement.
The Syrian opposition delegation in Geneva for peace talks could walk out of the process if President Bashar Assad’s forces and allies continue to escalate a bombing campaign in rebel-held areas and hamper delivery of humanitarian aid, a senior negotiator said on Sunday.
The delegation is seeking a halt to attacks on civilian areas, the release of detainees and a lifting of blockades. The measures were mentioned in a Security Council resolution approved last month that endorsed the peace process for Syria.
But Riad Hijab, the leading figure in the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) that brings together representatives of the mainstream political opposition and rebel groups, said in an online statement that without UN and international pressure on the Syrian government there would be no justification for the main opposition group to remain in Geneva.
“In view of the regime and its allies’ insistence in violating the rights of the Syrian people, then the presence of the HNC delegation in Geneva would not have justification and the HNC could pull its negotiating team,” Hijab said.
Hijab was not among the group that arrived in Geneva and his comments came after a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Riyadh, where Hijab was quoted as expressing his concern about the intensifying aerial bombing on Syrian cities and refugee camps.
He said that the delegation had traveled to Geneva only after they received written and verbal assurances from world powers that humanitarian issues would be addressed.
The head of the Syrian government delegation said the opposition was not serious about the talks and was trying to derail them with preconditions.
Bashar Jaafari spoke to reporters in Geneva on Sunday, two days after the meetings got off to a shaky start.
UN Syria envoy will host separate talks with the government delegation and the opposition on Monday.
A Syrian official said the regime will “never accept” the removal of two militant groups from a list of terrorist organizations barred from peace talks. Ahrar Al-Sham and the Army of Islam, two groups fighting to overthrow Assad, agreed to take part in the talks.