‘Military action risks derailing Syria talks’

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned that escalating military activity in Syria and threats of further use of force risk derailing efforts to reconvene peace talks and finding a political solution to the five-year-old war.

Mr Ban delivered the warning in his first report to the Security Council on implementation of a council resolution adopted in December which endorsed a peace process for Syria, including a cease-fire and talks between the Damascus government and Opposition.

The resolution was supported by 17 key countries supporting opposing sides of the Syrian conflict who agreed on February 12 to a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria within a week.

But that appears less and less likely as government forces, aided by a withering Russian bombing campaign, are trying to encircle rebels in Syria’s largest city of Aleppo and cut off their supply route to Turkey.

The secretary-general said on Wednesday, in a 14-page letter to the Security Council, that rarely have the international community and the council been presented with such a stark choice. On one hand, Mr Ban said, they can implement the UN resolution, de-escalate violence, fight terrorism and resume negotiations. On the other, he said, “the Syrian parties and their supporters can continue to pursue the bankrupt logic of a military victory, which has already led to the deaths of over 250,000 Syrians, the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time, and the creation of safe havens for terrorist organisations” such as the ISIS and the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

The Syrian Army back-ed by heavy Russian aerial bombing meanwhile said on Thursday it had captured the town of Kansaba in the northern countryside of the coastal provi-nce of Latakia. The capture of the town in the northeastern mountainous region allows the Ar-my and its Iranian-backed allies to beginwider operations to regain rebel-held town of Jisr al Shughou. The Army said the recapture of the Latakia countryside allows it to begin a major operation to regain the northwesternprovince of Idlib, which is mainly in the hands of hardline Islamist groups.

A monitor on Thursday said that at least 500 rebels have crossed the Turkish border heading for the Syrian town of Azaz in northern Aleppo province where Opposition forces have suffered set backs. “At least 500 rebels have crossed the Bab al-Salam border crossing on their way to the town of Azaz yesterday, from which they want to help the insurgents in the face of gains made by Kurdish forces in the north of the province,” the head of the monitor said.