Intense Meetings ahead of Geneva Talks: Moallem to Visit Russia, Kerry Meets Lavrov

Local Editor

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem will visit Russia ahead of the Geneva 2 peace talks on the crisis due to begin in Switzerland later this month, Damascus's ambassador to Moscow said Monday.

"He will be in Moscow prior to Geneva 2," Riyad Haddad told the Interfax news agency, without specifying the date.
A diplomatic source in Damascus said the visit could take place on Thursday.
The announcement came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks in Paris with US Secretary of State John Kerry about the Swiss conference, a follow-up to July 2012 consultations that failed to put an end to the fighting.

Kerry said he was "confident" the opposition would attend the upcoming talks in Switzerland, speaking after a meeting in Paris Sunday of the so-called "Friends of Syria" group of mainly Western and Gulf countries.

The meetings come as the Syrian forces appear to make gains on the ground.
The US Secretary of State met the so-called National Coalition leader Ahmad Jarba, whose grouping includes the main opposition movement in exile, and was due to hold further talks with him on Monday.
"I am confident that he and others will be in Geneva. I am counting on both parties to come together," he said.

The so-called "Geneva II" talks due to start on January 22.
"I have said many times, publicly and privately, I would welcome any initiative Iran wishes to take, if they do, to try to provide a resolution to the crisis of Syria," Kerry said.
"The first thing they can do is accept the Geneva communique," he said, in reference to a first round of talks held in June 2012 which called for a transitional government recognizing the opposition.

Iran announced Sunday through an official television network that its foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, would travel to Damascus in the next few days.

"If we receive an invitation without any preconditions, we will participate in the 'Geneva II' peace conference, but we won't act in order to receive an invitation," Zarif said in Beirut.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team