MUNICH — The leader of the Syrian opposition council, Moaz al-Khatib, met Saturday with key representatives of the United States and Russia - who fundamentally disagree on how to resolve Syria’s civil war - but the meetings were separate and there was no indication, officials said, that any progress had been made toward a workable plan to end the violence.
Moscow has been encouraged by al-Khatib’s suggestion, which he repeated in Munich, that he might be willing to talk to representatives of the Syrian government under certain conditions. But European and U.S. officials expect that offer to go nowhere now that al-Khatib’s own colleagues in the opposition have attacked it.
The series of side meetings at the annual Munich Security Conference seemed to confirm the fissures over what to do about Syria, including a new disagreement between the United States and some of its European allies over whether to provide the rebel fighters with more powerful weapons.
Senior European officials said in Munich that Britain and France were urging President Barack Obama’s administration to stop blocking allies in the Persian Gulf, such as Qatar, from providing the rebels with more sophisticated arms and intelligence assistance.
The officials argue that the Syrian stalemate means that the opposition is not winning, and President Bashar Assad is not losing. An opposition with better military means could break the confidence of Assad and his allies and push him to negotiate with the opposition, the officials argue.
But Obama, U.S. officials said, remained unconvinced about the positive effects of further militarizing the conflict, pointing to his recent interview with The New Republic magazine in which he asked, “In a situation like Syria, I have to ask, can we make a difference in that situation?” U.S. officials fear the advanced weapons would fall into the hands of Islamists with an international agenda who have joined the fight in Syria alongside rebels focused on overthrowing Assad.
The conference, in its 49th year, is considered the premier trans-Atlantic conference for security officials and analysts.
Vice President Joe Biden, representing an Obama administration in transition to another term, made no news in a well-received speech designed to reassure European allies of a continuing focus on European concerns despite the American “pivot to Asia.”
And while Biden implicitly criticized Russia for supporting the government of Assad, he gave the Syrian opposition little hope that Washington would change its mind about allowing more sophisticated arms to flow to the rebels.
Biden repeated America’s demand that Assad relinquish power, which was immediately criticized by the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, as “the single biggest reason for the continuation of the tragedy in Syria.” And while Biden listed the $365 million in humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees and $50 million in nonlethal assistance to the Syrian opposition provided by the United States, he promised nothing that would help turn the war in their favor.
“As the Syrian people have their chance to forge their own future, they will continue to find a partner in the United States of America,” Biden said.
The U.N. negotiator for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, who also met with al-Khatib, expressed pessimism Friday in a panel discussion that included al-Khatib. “I am much more conscious of the difficulties, of the country being broken down day after day than I am of a solution,” Brahimi said.
Al-Khatib - who directs a Syrian opposition council cobbled together with Washington’s help, and pressure, to try to unify a fractured movement - found himself struggling last week to tamp down criticism of his suggestion that he would be open to talking with representatives of the Assad government. (His terms of participating were that 160,000 prisoners had to be released and that Syrians abroad could renew their passports.)
But his own colleagues strongly objected, saying that the talks must focus on the removal of Assad. While al-Khatib reiterated his offer, saying that “as a gesture of good will, we are ready to sit at the negotiating table with the regime but we don’t want their hands to be full of blood,” he refused to provide any details, instead issuing a long indictment of the Assad government.
One senior European official said that even if al-Khatib were serious about talks with the regime, his colleagues would most likely force him to backtrack.
Al-Khatib also called for the West to destroy the Syrian government’s air power, which would require the direct military intervention Washington has ruled out.
Lavrov, for his part, expressed the standard Russian position: no international military involvement, no solution by military means, an immediate cease-fire and negotiations among all parties, including Assad. He said that the biggest threat in Syria was “the possibility that the rebels get hold of the chemical weapons” currently under Assad’s control.
Meanwhile, Syrian rebels captured a strategic neighborhood near Aleppo’s international airport, putting opposition fighters in control of a key road that the regime has used to ferry supplies and reinforcements to soldiers fighting in the embattled northern city, activists said.
The capturing of the Sheik Said neighborhood, southeast of Aleppo, is a significant blow to regime forces because the area includes a major road, linking the northern city with the airport.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels captured the area Saturday after several days of fierce battles with Assad’s troops.
In Damascus, another close Syrian ally, Iran, pledged continued support for Assad’s regime. During a three-day visit to Syria, Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, lashed out at countries supporting the opposition, saying they are “the enemies, claiming they are defending the Syrian people.”
In the north, regime warplanes hit rebel-held areas in Idlib province as troops fought rebels in Deir el-Zour in the east, an oil-rich area along Syria’s border with Iraq, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Information for this article was contributed by Steven Erlanger of The New York Times; and by Barbara Surk, Geir Moulson and David Rising of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 11 on 02/03/2013