BBC Online :
The UN mediator in the Syrian conflict, Staffan de Mistura, has told the BBC he believes there is a fresh opportunity to resolve the country’s crisis.
He said truce measures could succeed because of the common threat from Islamic State (IS) militants, as well as a growing weariness with conflict. The UN has called for “freeze zones” to halt fighting and improve aid.
More than 200,000 people have died in Syria’s increasingly fragmented civil war, now in its fourth year.
Rebel groups such as IS and the al-Qaeda-aligned Nusra Front have been fighting among themselves, as well as against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
Syria’s conflict has broadened this year, with a US-led coalition now carrying out air strikes against IS fighters and positions.
Speaking to the BBC’s Lyse Doucet in the war-torn Syrian city of Homs, de Mistura said the rise of IS was “a new factor which can turn into the possibility of looking at this conflict in a different way”.
de Mistura said rival sides that viewed IS and the Nusra Front as a common enemy were beginning to question if the conflict was “giving an opportunity to someone else to take advantage of it”.
Moreover, he said, there was a growing realisation that attempts to win the conflict by force were not working and that the only losers in the war were the Syrian people.
The job of Syria’s UN envoy has long been called “mission impossible.” The task was to be available, with a plan, if and when all sides were ready to listen.
On a visit to Aleppo this week, some observers told us some warring parties may now be willing to consider a way out of this crisis. But Syrian troops are now encircling the last rebel held areas in eastern Aleppo to cut off supply lines. It is a siege tactic used time and again in this war.
There is infighting among rebel forces. de Mistura boldly chose this “iconic” city for the first “freeze” to send a strong political message to fighters and a message of hope to Syrians.
The UN mediator in the Syrian conflict, Staffan de Mistura, has told the BBC he believes there is a fresh opportunity to resolve the country’s crisis.
He said truce measures could succeed because of the common threat from Islamic State (IS) militants, as well as a growing weariness with conflict. The UN has called for “freeze zones” to halt fighting and improve aid.
More than 200,000 people have died in Syria’s increasingly fragmented civil war, now in its fourth year.
Rebel groups such as IS and the al-Qaeda-aligned Nusra Front have been fighting among themselves, as well as against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
Syria’s conflict has broadened this year, with a US-led coalition now carrying out air strikes against IS fighters and positions.
Speaking to the BBC’s Lyse Doucet in the war-torn Syrian city of Homs, de Mistura said the rise of IS was “a new factor which can turn into the possibility of looking at this conflict in a different way”.
de Mistura said rival sides that viewed IS and the Nusra Front as a common enemy were beginning to question if the conflict was “giving an opportunity to someone else to take advantage of it”.
Moreover, he said, there was a growing realisation that attempts to win the conflict by force were not working and that the only losers in the war were the Syrian people.
The job of Syria’s UN envoy has long been called “mission impossible.” The task was to be available, with a plan, if and when all sides were ready to listen.
On a visit to Aleppo this week, some observers told us some warring parties may now be willing to consider a way out of this crisis. But Syrian troops are now encircling the last rebel held areas in eastern Aleppo to cut off supply lines. It is a siege tactic used time and again in this war.
There is infighting among rebel forces. de Mistura boldly chose this “iconic” city for the first “freeze” to send a strong political message to fighters and a message of hope to Syrians.
