Britain Iran can join Syria peace talks only if it changes tack

A Syrian activist group said on that Tuesday pro-government gunmen have killed seven members of a local reconciliation committee in the central province of Homs.                 

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the men, including two retired army officers, were Sunni Muslims working to convince gunmen to drop their weapons and return to normal life. They were killed Monday in the village of Hajar Abyad, where residents are known to be regime supporters.                                  

The killing comes four days after rebels attacked a nearby army checkpoint, killing seven including members of the military.                          

An amateur video showed the seven covered in sheets and each had his name on his chest. They appeared to have been tortured. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.            

Elsewhere, the Israeli Army declared on Tuesday that several missiles fired from Syria during the ongoing clashes between rebels and the Syrian army landed in the occupied Golan Heights, without causing casualties.                             

A spokeswoman of the Israeli army said that Israel was not targeted, stressing that the missiles resulted from the clashes taking place in Syria.            

INTERNATIONAL POSITIONS:            

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that Iran would have to accept proposals to bring about peace in Syria agreed at an international conference in Geneva last year before it could take part in any new peace talks.
   
"A good starting point would be acceptance of 'Geneva One' ... and that is something we haven't heard from Iran as yet," Hague told lawmakers.

The conference agreed that Syria needed a transitional government with executive powers to attain peace, he said.
   
This comes as Britain said it is rushing to issue Syria's rebel fighters with chemical warfare protection, including escape hoods, drugs and chemical detector paper.                                     

Hague also told Parliament Tuesday that roughly 655,000 pounds (nearly $1 million) worth of equipment would be sent to the rebels as "a matter of special urgency" because evidence suggests that Syrian President Bashar Assad has deployed chemical weapons against the opposition.                      

Syria is believed to have large stocks of the nerve gas sarin which Western powers, including the United States, say has been used to poison rebel fighters in urban areas.                              

Syrian officials deny the charge, alleging instead that rebels have used the arms against government forces.                    

Hoods and drugs can be used as short-term fixes to evade or treat sarin poisoning.                      

Meanwhile, Iran expressed its support for a complete truce to be implemented by the opposition’s gunmen during the month of Ramadan, after the Syrian National Coalition called for a ceasefire during the holy month in the city of Homs.                      

The spokesman of the Iranian foreign ministry Abbas Araqchi said that Iran advises the opposition’s gunmen to commit to the truce and kick off negotiations with the Syrian government.            


REUTERS/AP/LBCI