World Powers, Meeting in New York, to Address Syrian War and ISIS
By SOMINI SENGUPTADEC. 18, 2015
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UNITED NATIONS — Diplomats from more than a dozen countries were expected to meet Friday morning in New York, with an eye to drawing the Syrian war to a close and to focusing the world’s attention on the threat of the Islamic State. But whether they can put aside their rivalries and fulfill promises they have made in pursuit of a cease-fire and peace talks by January remains unclear.
At issue is whether the world powers that all have large stakes in the war can end the fighting — and with it, help stem the refugee crisis in Europe and the threat posed by the Islamic State.
This is the third meeting of the so-called International Syria Support Group, which also includes the Arab League and the European Union. The group is led by the top envoys of the United States and Russia, and it includes the regional rivals Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which have vastly different agendas in Syria.
The last two rounds of talks, held in Vienna in October and November, produced a road map for diplomacy: a cease-fire by January; talks between the Syrian government and opposition parties, mediated by the United Nations; and elections in 18 months.
The talks this week aim to produce a United Nations Security Council resolution by the end of the day. That resolution is intended to give the international support group and the road map for peace the Council’s blessing, diplomats say, but it has been held up by crucial differences between Russia and the United States.
There are at least three unresolved issues: which groups in Syria should be defined as terrorists, whether the Council will recognize the bloc of Syrian opposition groups that came together in Saudi Arabia last week, and whether President Bashar al-Assad should be allowed to run for another term.
Western diplomats at the United Nations said they were not certain that they could reach consensus.
“There are still differences of opinion about Assad and his specific future,” John Kirby, a State Department spokesman, told reporters in Washington on Thursday.
Mr. Kirby referred to the agreement struck at the last meeting of the support group, which left Mr. Assad’s future unresolved. It referred to “a unified, pluralistic, nonsectarian, whole Syria,” he said.
One of the trickiest parts of the road map for diplomacy will be composing a list of groups in Syria that are considered terrorist organizations. Jordan has been assigned that task, but diplomats have warned that pinning down such a list could make a final settlement even more difficult.
The meeting on Friday follows a rare sign of consensus among the world powers Thursday afternoon, when the Security Council unanimously adopted a legally binding resolution intended to prevent the Islamic State, Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups from raising money.
Jacob J. Lew, the United States Treasury secretary, said the measure was “designed to starve them of the resources they need to operate.”
One of the most incongruous parts of the resolution was that the government of Syria was one of its co-sponsors.
The Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, told reporters on Thursday that he would participate in the Council meeting on Friday.
The diplomatic advance comes alongside intensified violence in Syria, with the United States, its European partners and its rival, Russia, all conducting airstrikes in the country.
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