Diplomats look to overcome rifts in talks to ease Syrian strife

Foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and Germany arrived in Vienna for talks aimed at finding a political solution to Syria's four-year-old civil war. (Reuters)

By Carol Morello-October 30

VIENNA — As fighting in Syria raged, diplomats opened talks Friday seeking a pathway to end the country’s grueling conflict that have included Russian military intervention and international rifts over the fate of Syria’s embattled president.

The diplomats from 17 nations and two organizations, the European Union and the United Nations, were expected to discuss a potential cease-fire and at least start trying to formulate a political transition for a future without President Bashar al-Assad.

The talks started in a five-star hotel, where Secretary of State John F. Kerry sat at the head of a u-shaped conference table. The position reflected Kerry’s central role in bringing together nations that have a vested interest in the war’s outcome and clashing views over Assad — now backed by Russian military forces, but opposed by rebels factions that include units with links to Washington and its allies.

The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was seated far apart from the Saudi foreign minister, Adel Al Jubeir, in a physical manifestation of the animosity between the two nations and their differing perspectives on how to end the fighting.

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The diplomats have tried to downplay expectations for the talks. Kerry, for example, explicitly characterized his outlook as hopeful rather than rosy.

“I don’t call it optimism,” Kerry said before meeting with Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shourky. “I am hopeful that we can find a way forward. It is very difficult.”

In Washington, meanwhile, the U.S. military strategy in Syria took a new turn with plans to send a small group of Special Operations forces to advise Syrian Kurdish militias fighting the Islamic State, officials said, marking the first ground deployment for American troops in Syria.

More than four years of warfare in Syria has claimed more than 200,000 lives and sent more than 3 million refugees into neighboring countries or en route to Europe as part of a massive flow of migrants.

The chaos also has opened room for gains by the Islamic State, which continues to hold ground despite more than a year of U.S.-led airstrikes.

A senior State Department official, talking about the closed-door talks on condition of anonymity, said the talks are infused with a sense of urgency driven by the refu­gee exodus.

“The secretary feels this can’t go on through another winter, and continue to percolate,” the official said. “It’s got to move to a political transition that is not tied to Assad.”

Even as the envoys gathered at the Imperial Hotel, about 40 Syrians died when the government forces fired rockets and mortars into a market in suburban Damascus, activists said. The Douma district, a stronghold for some rebel factions, is a frequent target of government air attacks.

The meeting, arranged in less than a week, represents the broadest group yet to tackle the conflict in Syria. It includes countries from Europe and the Middle East that are hosting a flood of Syrian refugees, and countries that are engaged militarily in the war.

Though no representative from the Syrian government is attending, its interests are represented by Iran and Russia, both of which have provided financial and military support to Assad.

State Department officials have said they hope the Vienna meeting will establish a framework for future talks on Syria, which could resume as early as next week. They said it is unrealistic to expect the diplomats to emerge after just one day of talks with a clear solution.

It is not clear whether, at this early stage, how deeply they will dive into thecontentious issue of Assad’s role.

The United States, Europe and the Gulf Arab states all are adamant that Assad ultimately must go, though some acknowledge he may stay on during a transition period. Iran and Russia consider him essential to keep the country from splintering, at least in the short term, and are reluctant to negotiate his departure.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said it is premature for the diplomats to agree on a fundamental issue in which the parties are so far apart.

“You have to organize the political transition,” he told reporters Friday “and obviously Bashar al-Assad is responsible for a large part of the drama and cannot be considered in the future of Syria. Therefore, at one moment or another in this political transition, he should no longer be in power.”

Carol Morello is the diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post, covering the State Department.