Disappointing meeting

Much hope was pinned on the multinational Vienna meeting on Syria, but the communiqué issued at its end was long on generalities and short on details; in other words, a letdown.

Listening to US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, at the end of the marathon meeting, one realises that a wide gap still exists between the two superpowers on what matters most, especially with regard to the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad in any peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis.

While Kerry spoke a great deal about the need for attaining peace for the sake of the Syrian people, Lavrov talked at length about the fight against terrorists.

Obviously the priorities of the two top diplomats, which are actually of their countries, are different and there is still a considerable disparity between their perceptions of what comes first in the peace process for Syria.

Despite the talks in Vienna, civilians were under continued bombardment by both Damascus and Russia.

Over 100 Syrians lost their lives in the Damascus suburb of Douma, because of Syrian rocket attacks, and scores of others died because of the Russian aerial bombing in the south of the country.

The bombings reflect the priorities of both Russia and Syria even as peace talks were being held.

The Vienna gathering also coincided with the US’ decision to deploy a light force, of about 50, in northern Syria to assist moderate Syrian forces and the Kurdish militia in the fight against Daesh.

The deployment of US ground forces sends a clear message to Russia and Iran that Syria is not theirs to do with what they please with impunity.

The timing of the US deployment of ground forces, at the start of the Vienna talks on Syria on Friday, is probably an attempt to flex muscle during the talks and perhaps affect their outcome.

All said and done, the Vienna meeting was only the beginning of a long process on the Syrian conflict, whose outcome is doubtful.