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GENEVA — Senior United States, Russian and United Nations officials failed on Wednesday to find enough common ground among themselves and antagonists in Syria’s civil war to convene a second international conference that could halt the carnage and start a process of political transition.
GENEVA — Senior United States, Russian and United Nations officials failed on Wednesday to find enough common ground among themselves and antagonists in Syria’s civil war to convene an international peace conference this month, setting their sights on convening it instead in July.
The United Nations special Syria representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, said the officials would reconvene here on June 25 to try again and that the conference could possibly be held in July.
“The Syrian sides are not ready,” Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations’ and Arab League’s special Syria representative, said at the end of Wednesday’s talks. “Evidently there is still a lot of work to be done to bring the conference about.”
Russian diplomats said the principal obstacle was indecision by the Syrian opposition on whether to even participate in the conference, which Russia and the United States had hoped to convene this month. Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Gennady Gatilov, the deputy foreign minister, as saying a June date was no longer possible.
The officials agreed to meet again in Geneva on June 25 to take stock of developments and try to push the process forward. But among other outstanding issues that were not resolved in this round of talks was who would take part in a peace conference and whether the lineup could include Iran, a senior United States official said.
“The most difficult question is the circle of participants in the conference,” he was quoted as saying.
The talks were attended by Wendy R. Sherman, the United States undersecretary of state for political affairs; two Russian deputy foreign ministers, Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov; and Jeffrey Feltman, the United Nations’ under secretary general for political affairs.
The meeting was attended by Mr. Gatilov and another deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, along with Mr. Brahimi, Wendy R. Sherman, the United States under secretary of state for political affairs, and Jeffrey Feltman, the United Nations’s under secretary general for political affairs.
Russian diplomats said the principal obstacle was indecision by the Syrian opposition on whether to even participate in the conference, which was proposed by Russia and the United States.
Confirmation by France and Britain in the past 24 hours that nerve gas had been used in Syria lent urgency to talks overshadowed by fears of an arms race as rival powers try to bolster the factions they support in the conflict and a warning by United Nations human rights investigators that more arms can only reduce the chances of peace and kill more civilians.
“The most difficult question is the circle of participants in the conference,” Mr. Gatilov was quoted as saying by Russia’s Interfax news agency.
At the same time, battlefield developments showed the highly fluid and combustible nature of the war. Rebel forces said Wednesday that government troops, supported by units from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, had retaken the strategic town of Qusayr after a siege lasting weeks.
The meeting came as the Syrian government retook the strategic town of Qusayr and United Nations human rights investigators warned of deepening brutality, events that appear to have given urgency to deliberations. The talks were “very focused” on finding a peaceful solution because every day of continuing conflict is “a catastrophe for the people in Syria,” the United States official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in standard diplomatic practice, told reporters.
The government victory, first signaled by Syrian state media, came as a painful defeat for outgunned rebels, emboldening the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and possibly dampening prospects for peace negotiations at a time when the military advantage seemed to tilt in the government’s favor.
Recent rancorous exchanges between Russia and the United States over Moscow’s decision to ship a sophisticated new missile system to President Bashar al-Assad also appear to have stayed outside the Geneva talks.
Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, agreed a month ago to arrange a conference as soon as possible to end more than two years of civil war amid deepening concern over the humanitarian catastrophe of a conflict that is estimated to have cost 80,000 lives and the increasing concern that it will ignite wider regional conflict.
The main outcome of the meeting appears to have been agreement on a framework and objectives of an international conference, based on the outcome of the first international meeting on Syria in Geneva, which took place in June last year.
But the initiative soon ran into tensions over hard-line positions taken by Mr. Assad and opposing forces and deep rifts within Syria’s splintered opposition.
The conference would be held under the auspices of the United Nations, starting with a plenary session lasting up to two days followed by intensive negotiations between the Syrian participants, mediated by Mr. Brahimi, with the aim of creating a transitional governing body armed with full executive power over all institutions of government.
The Obama administration says Mr. Assad cannot be part of any future government of Syria and has faced growing calls at home to intervene in the conflict. But Russia, Mr. Assad’s main patron and deeply suspicious of the West’s role in the Arab Spring revolutions, has insisted Mr. Assad’s fate can only be decided by Syrians and has bolstered its oldest Middle East ally with new deliveries of weapons.
“Who that is and how that occurs has to happen by mutual consent,” the United States official said, “but the what is perfectly clear: there will be a new Syria.”
Only last week, Mr. Kerry sharply criticized Russia’s decision to sell advanced S-300 antiaircraft weapons to Mr. Assad as “profoundly negative,” warning it called into question Russia’s commitment to negotiations for a political settlement and threatened to further destabilize the region. Russia voiced similar criticisms of American support for a resolution condemning Syria in the United Nations Human Rights Council.
For this process to advance, the officials agreed, it is essential that both the Syrian government and the opposition come to the conference with delegations that are “credible, authoritative and empowered,” the American official said.
If the two powers can navigate through these differences, they still face the challenge of bringing Syrian parties in the conflict to the negotiating table. At a point when his army and pro-government militia, supported by Iran and Lebanon’s militant Shiite group Hezbollah, seem to have blunted rebel attacks, Mr. Assad appears in no mood to compromise. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said last week he would remain in office at least until elections in 2014.
But achieving the expectations set out in Wednesday’s talks appear fraught with difficulty. Syria’s main opposition coalition last week rejected the idea of participating in any conference.
To further complicate matters, Syria’s main Western-supported opposition group, the Syria National Coalition, has refused to participate in any peace negotiation, saying the suggestion of talks was meaningless in view of continuing aggression by Mr. Assad’s forces.
Moreover, there is no evidence of common ground between Moscow and Washington on the definition of a “new Syria.” The United States insists that President Assad can have no place in a future Syria and must leave office. Russia, as President Assad’s main patron, has said that decision is one only Syrians can make.
