Inside Syria

Syria’s conflict: No end in sight?

As another round of peace talks ends in deadlock, we discuss the reasons behind the military and political stalemate.

A second round of peace talks ended in Geneva last week – without any real progress being made.

Syrian negotiators were insistent on the need to fight what they called “terrorists”, while the opposition delegation continued to stress the need for a transitional administration to run the country until elections can be held.

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said it was difficult to find any common ground between the two sides.

Meanwhile fighting inside the country goes on, forcing even more civilians to cross Syria’s borders in search of safety.

Part of the political and military stalemate stems from the fact that both sides in the conflict have powerful backers: Bashar al-Assad still appears to enjoy the unwavering support of Russia, Iran, and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, while the US, a few European countries and some Gulf states have backed the rebel cause.

On Inside Syria this week, we discuss the Syrian conflict as it appears to show no sign of ending anytime soon.

Presenter: Sami Zeidan

Guests:

Hussein Shobokshi, a Saudi political commentator

Richard Murphy, a former US ambassador to Syria and Saudi Arabia

James Denselow, a Middle East analyst at the Foreign Policy Centre