Russia Offers to Negotiate Peace in Syria

Russia has offered to step in and broker a peace agreement between Syrian opposition groups and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, according to the Associated Press .

As the 23-month civil war continues, the United Nations is also warning that humanitarian agencies are unable to access civilians and deliver needed aid in rebel-held northern Syria due to onerous government restraints, as reported by Reuters .

Here's a closer look at recent developments in the Syrian civil war.

Negotiations sought by Assad-ally

Russia and the Arab League are trying to reach both the opposition and the regime for direct talks as a means of ending the ongoing civil war.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that "neither side can allow itself to rely on a military solution to the conflict," according to the AP, "because it's a road to nowhere, a road to mutual destruction of the people."

The opposition denied the possibility of talking with Russia. Abdelbaset Sieda, a senior member of the Syrian National Coalition, said that Assad must step down before any talks could begin.

However, Russia has served as the primary international support for Syria and by suggesting negotiations may have already received support from the regime for talks.

The AP also reported that a government airstrike on a Damascus suburb had killed 20 people. The suburb of Hamouriyeh is rebel-held and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was quoted by the AP as saying it was believed there could be more people buried under the rubble.

Another group, the Local Coordination Committees, suggested the death toll was closer to 35.

Aid groups have limited access to provide relief

The U.N. News Center said on Tuesday that Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos called the situation in Syria a "humanitarian tragedy unfold before our eyes. We must do all we can to reassure the people that we care and that we will not let them down."

Amos is also the also U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Access to areas in the north has been severely limited, she said, and according to Reuters the Syrian government is refusing to permit aid groups to enter the country through Turkey.

The only routes permitted are Lebanon and Jordan, far from the northern border.

Shawn Humphrey is a former contributor to The Flint Journal and an amateur Africanist, focusing his personal studies on human rights and political issues on the continent.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-offers-negotiate-peace-syria-171200501.html

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