Kerry, Lavrov hold phone call on Syria peace conference

 
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone on Friday to discuss efforts to bring Syria's warring parties to a peace conference, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.        

"The situation in Syria was discussed in the context of an international conference for a political settlement in the country," the ministry said in a statement on its website.                          

Kerry and Lavrov last met on May 7 in Moscow and agreed to try to get the Syrian government and opposition to discuss an end to the more than 2-year-old civil war. The diplomats are due to again hold talks on Syria on Monday in Paris, a U.S. official said on Friday.            

This as the Syrian government agreed to a conference on the country's future proposed by Russia and the United States, Russia's foreign ministry said Friday.                           

Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in televised remarks that the Syrian government had "agreed in principle" to participate in the conference in Geneva which is expected within two weeks.                

Lukashevich, however, said that it is impossible to set the date for the conference at this point because there is "no clarity about who will speak on behalf of the opposition and what powers they will have."       

Lukashevich also said Moscow "was not encouraged" by the results of recent meetings of members of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.     Meanwhile, members of Syria's main opposition group meeting in Istanbul expressed doubts over an announcement by the Russian foreign ministry that the Syrian government had agreed "in principle" to attend an international conference on ending the Arab country's conflict.             

"First we would like to hear that from the spokesman of the Syrian government. Why is Russia speaking on behalf of Syria?" said Louay Safi, attending a three day conference of the Syrian National Coalition in Turkey.                  

It was the first confirmation that President Bashar Assad's government would be willing to take part in the talks with the opposition.                

The Syrian National Coalition was expected to discuss whether or not it will attend the conference proposed by Russia and the US.      

The two countries joined efforts earlier this month to convene an international conference to bring representatives of Assad's regime and the opposition to the negotiating table.            The aim of the talks would be to establish the outlines of a transitional government as a way out of the crisis.                       

The US-Russian plan, similar to the one set out last year in Geneva, calls for talks on a transitional government and an open-ended cease-fire.             

The Moscow announcement came after days of talks there between Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad and Russian officials.                     

On another note, Austria's foreign minister said that the European Union's arms embargo to Syria should be extended while a political solution is sought in its civil war to maintain the safety of U.N. peacekeepers in the Golan Heights.       

Austria's 377 soldiers make up the largest contingent of the approximately 900 U.N. peacekeepers posted to the Golan Heights separating Syria and Israel.              

Michael Spindelegger, Austria's foreign minister, said a flow of weapons into the country could exacerbate the conflict, threaten a U.S.-Russian initiative to end it, and further split the U.N. Security Council on how to work together on the issue.


On the Field:           

Syria's state media said that rebels have fired mortar shells at the central prison in an embattled northern city, killing and wounding several inmates.      

The pro-opposition Aleppo Media Center said clashes are underway between rebels and government troops at the prison in Aleppo. The center said a large fire has broken out at the facility.           

Friday's fighting comes a week after President Bashar Assad's forces repelled a rebel raid on the prison that sought to free hundreds of political prisoners.             

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said intense fighting is also going on in the town of Qusair, near the border with Lebanon.               

Government forces have been trying to recapture the town since Sunday. State-run news agency SANA said troops killed a "large number" of rebels in the latest clashes.     

In this regard, Iran denied it had forces in Syria supporting President Bashar al-Assad's army, one day after foreign backers of his rebel foes demanded Tehran withdraw its fighters from Syrian territory.        

"The true enemies of Syria make up these accusations to provoke the people of this country," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said, quoted by Iranian state television.       

More than 70,000 people have been killed and several million displaced since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011 and escalated into a civil war.


REUTERS/LBCI