Lebanon attends Geneva II preparatory meeting

Lebanon says it will participate in a preparatory meeting for the Geneva II peace conference aimed at resolving the crisis in Syria.

Lebanon’s Foreign Affairs Minister Adnan Mansour confirmed on Sunday that he had received an invitation to the preparatory meeting, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.

Mansour and Lebanon’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Najla Riachi Assaker are due to attend the meeting on Tuesday.

The announcement comes as Ahmad Jarba, the president of the so-called Syrian National Coalition, said earlier on Sunday during an Arab League emergency meeting of foreign ministers in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, that the group would attend the peace talks planned for this month in Geneva only if there is a clear timeframe for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

He said the opposition has decided not to attend the Geneva II conference unless there is a successful transfer of power with a specific timeframe.

Russia and the US have been pushing to bring the Syrian government and the opposition to the negotiating table.

The Geneva II conference is seen as a chance to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict. The event has been delayed for months, but Moscow and Washington are now trying to fix a date for it in November.

UN-Arab League Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said on November 1 that Geneva conference could not be held without the participation of Syria’s foreign-backed opposition coalition.

“If the opposition does not participate there will be no Geneva conference,” Brahimi told a press conference in Syria.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. Reports indicate that the Western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — are supporting the militants operating inside the country.