Syrian Opposition Eyes New Timetable for Talks, Ceasefire

Syria's main opposition coalition said Friday that achieving a ceasefire by January 1 was unrealistic and demanded that Russia halt airstrikes as part of the new truce.

Najib Ghadbian, the Syrian National Coalition's (SNC) envoy to the United Nations, said opposition groups need "a month or so" to prepare for political talks that would begin in tandem with a ceasefire.

"I don't think those timetables are realistic," Ghadbian told reporters.

He spoke as foreign ministers from 17 countries were meeting in New York to push forward on a plan to launch a political transition that will end Syria's nearly five-year war.

At their last meeting, the nations set a target date of January 1 to launch intra-Syrian talks and a ceasefire.

A key issue for the SNC is whether the ceasefire will apply to Russia's air campaign, which began in late September in support of President Bashar Assad.

"Russian attacks continue to target everything and anything but ISIS," said Ghadbian, referring to the Islamic State group that now controls large parts of Syria.

Russia maintains that it launched its air campaign to fight IS jihadists, but the West accuses Moscow of targeting its armed allies in the war.

The U.N.-brokered ceasefire would apply to Syrian government forces and all other factions on the ground, except for the IS group, in a major step toward ending the violence that has left 250,000 dead.

Ghadbian stressed the close link between the ceasefire and the political talks, saying that armed groups will move away from the battlefield only if political negotiations have a chance for success.

The envoy said he would welcome a Security Council resolution endorsing the Syrian peace process, that was being negotiated on Friday and could be adopted during the day.

He said the resolution would provide "guarantees" that the political talks with the Damascus regime on a transition will be taken more seriously after the failure of two previous UN rounds of talks.