RUSSIA reiterated yesterday that maintaining Syria’s territorial integrity is vital to the entire Middle East as Western-backed militants said they would attend Monday’s peace talks in Geneva.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that resisting moves to Balkanise Syria along sectarian lines was “a cornerstone.”
“Both the format of Syria’s political system and the format of Syria’s authorities are the issues that are to be decided by the Syrians,” he said. “Only the Syrians themselves can take a legitimate decision about their future.”
Meanwhile, the Saudi-convened High Negotiations Committee (HNC) said it had reversed its rejectionist position on the UN-sponsored talks following the truce brokered by Russia and the United States.
But the HNC, which includes major fundamentalist forces Ahrar ash-Sham and the Army of Islam, continued to insist on the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the full spectrum of Syrian opposition groups should be represented at the talks, where Turkey has objected to the presence of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party.
Speaking at a press conference with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Mr Lavrov said Beijing and Moscow shared similar views on Syria.
nSources in Deir Ezzor said on Thursday that Islamic State (Isis) terrorists besieging the city had murdered a prominent poet and his son.
Mohammad Bashir al-Aani and his son Eyass were abducted from their home by Isis two months ago. Mr Aani was a member of the Arab Writers Union and had published three books of poetry.

