[caption id="attachment_63130" align="alignright" width="180"] Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov[/caption]
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov has underlined the necessity of Iran's participation in the long-awaited Geneva II peace conference on Syria.
�We remain convinced that Iran's participation would be necessary and useful. Iran is a major regional power, involved in the developments surrounding Syria,� Interfax quoted the Russian official as saying.
�It would be difficult for the conference to make decisions without Iran that would subsequently be fulfilled by all,� he added.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday that the long-awaited talks would be held on January 22.

�Additional negotiations are to be held with the external players who will attend,� Gatilov said.

UN-Arab League Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi has said that the conference would start �without any preconditions.�

Syria�s foreign-backed opposition has announced that it will only attend the talks after the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian government has agreed to take part in the talks, but has rejected any preconditions or any insistence on Assad�s departure.

The commander of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA), General Salim Idriss, said Tuesday that it will not participate in the upcoming Geneva conference.

�Conditions are not suitable for running the Geneva 2 talks at the given date, and we, as a military and revolutionary force, will not participate in the conference,� Idriss said.

The Geneva II conference, which will be a follow-up to an earlier one held in June 2012, was proposed by Moscow and Washington on May 7, but its date was delayed several times.

Syria has been gripped by a deadly crisis since 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies -- especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey -- are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

By Press TV

 

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