{"id":535,"date":"2014-02-24T16:48:41","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T22:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cuchicago.edu\/spectator\/?p=535"},"modified":"2014-02-24T16:48:41","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T22:48:41","slug":"geneva-ii-conference-hopes-to-resolve-syrian-civil-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/?p=535","title":{"rendered":"Geneva II Conference Hopes to Resolve Syrian Civil War"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Josh Heine<\/span><\/p>\n

Almost three years after the Arab Spring began, the Syrian civil war has raged on, resulting in over 100,000 deaths and the displacement of millions. In order to end the bloodshed, diplomats from the United States, United Nations and Russia have begun a new peace conference. However, the fighting continues and both the opposition and regime forces view military victory as a more viable option for peace and change.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peace talks began after US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed in May 2013 to bring both sides of the Syrian civil war together. Efforts doubled after the chemical weapons attacks launched by the regime in August. Geneva II officially began on January 22, 2014 and has continued since then. Diplomats view it to be an appropriate time for peace talks as the civil war is currently deadlocked in a stalemate. The opposition does not possess significant weapons or technology to triumph, and the regime does not have the support of the people to continue the fight. However, the fighting is still fierce, and citizens are evacuating cities such as Homs in droves in order to escape the fighting.<\/p>\n

The peace conference,\u00a0labeled\u00a0Geneva II, is the second conference to be held in Geneva regarding the Syrian civil war. The goal of the Geneva conferences, outlined in the \u201cGeneva Communique\u201d created at the first\u00a0conference\u00a0in 2012, is to cease all violence in Syria and create a transitional governing body that will allow full political representation for all Syrians.<\/p>\n

Both opposition and regime forces are present for the Geneva II conference. The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces is participating. However, it is fragmented by infighting and differing opinions regarding Syria\u2019s future and several opposition blocs reject the coalition\u2019s authority and the conference. The Assad regime has sent representatives to the talks; however, Assad has stated that he will not abdicate his position and branded the opposition as \u201cterrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US, UN and Russia are not the only interested parties in the outcome of the Syrian Civil War. Iran is Syria\u2019s most valued ally and has deployed troops to assist the Assad regime against opposition forces. Iran was also invited to participate in Geneva II by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on January 19, as Ki-moon believed Iran to be part of the solution to Syria. However, the US denounced the inclusion of Iran and the National Coalition refused to participate. Iran was not permitted to participate after it declared on January 20 that it did not endorse the Geneva Communique.<\/p>\n

The talks are an important move towards peace, but it is doubtful that they will be effective. The Assad regime continually refuses to be removed or surrender President Assad, and the opposition will not permit Assad to become part of the transitional governing body\u00a0described\u00a0by the Geneva Communique. No one can implement the measures outlined by the conference as the conference is irrelevant to most Syrian combat forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Josh Heine Almost three years after the Arab Spring began, the Syrian civil war has raged on, resulting in over 100,000 deaths and the displacement of millions. In order to end the bloodshed, diplomats from the United States, United Nations and Russia have begun a new peace conference. However, the fighting continues and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}