Story Summary

The Syrian government said Wednesday it would participate in U.N.-sponsored peace talks aimed at ending the country’s civil war but insisted that it was not going to the conference to hand over power.

The meeting, which would be the first face-to-face talks between President Bashar Assad’s government and its opponents since the Syrian war began, has raised hopes that a resolution to a conflict that activists say has killed more than 120,000 people could be within reach.

Even the most modest attempts to stop the war in Syria, now in its third year, have failed.

In a statement, Syria’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the government would attend, saying Assad would send an official delegation to the Geneva conference.

The Syrian opposition and its Western supporters insist that Assad cannot be part of a transitional government.

Syrian officials say Assad will not surrender power and may even run again in elections due in mid-2014 .

The U.N.-OPCW mission aims to have all weaponized chemicals and Syria’s most dangerous precursor chemicals out of the country by Dec. 31 .

Read more: http://dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Nov-28/239195-syrian-regime-says-it-wont-give-up-power-in-peace-talks.ashx#ixzz2luw32IDw
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)