Vienna talks — more procrastination

The Vienna II talks that are going to be attended by 17 foreign ministers are intended to come up with a roadmap to end the civil war in Syria.

They will offer the Iranians a second opportunity to display their prowess, as scheme masters who developed the first chess game in history, in saving an ally and killing an enemy.

The Iranians stressed the need to give full support to the eight-point Russian proposal that specifies 18 months for effecting constitutional reforms, including general and presidential elections.

The whole purpose of such proposal is to give Syrian President Bashar Assad two more years to continue dropping his barrel chemical bombs against the opponents of his regime.

The 43 Syrian groups fighting Assad will never accept the Iranian manoeuvre to classify some of them as bona fide nationalists worthy of an invitation to start a dialogue with them, while others are labelled terrorists to be decimated by the Russian bombers and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

It is no longer a secret that some Arab states and Turkey have their own affiliates within the 43 groups fighting in Syria, while the US, Russia and Iran have their own “advisers” operating on the whole Syrian front.

No criteria were announced by Russia or Iran for defining which of the Syrian groups are terrorist organisations and which are patriots.

Vienna II talks are a stratagem for the Russians to procrastinate.

The daily Russian sorties targeted Daesh as well as other political groups opposing the Assad regime.

The Iranian fighters have made an alliance with Lebanese Hizbollah, with Iraqi Abu Abbas militias and with Afghan and Pakistani Shiite volunteers.

A roadmap to end the civil war in Syria must have two prerequisites. One is a withdrawal of all foreign combatants from Syrian soil, the other an immediate ceasefire by the 43 groups all over the country.

It is doubtful that the Russian contingent will leave the Humeimeen air base or Tartus naval base.

The 2,000 Iranian fighters will never leave the Zeinab Mosque, irrespective of any arrangement. Moreover, the Syrian opposition groups fighting for five years to have their freedom will never comply with the Vienna outcome.

The entire Russian eight-point proposal have been scripted to give the Syrian regime a life-saving formula for 18 more months, with no regard for the agony civilians are going through.