AL BAB: Turkish-backed Syrian rebels said on Thursday they had fully captured the town of Al Bab from the militant Islamic State group, marking a key defeat for the jihadists after weeks of heavy fighting.

As Ankara said its allies now had “near complete control” of the town, a fresh round of peace talks opened between the Syrian opposition and regime in Geneva.

Al-Bab, just 25 kilometres south of the Turkish border, was the last IS stronghold in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo.

“We are announcing Al-Bab completely liberated, and we are now clearing mines from the residential neighbourhoods,” said Ahmad Othman, a rebel commander. “After hours of fighting, we chased out the last remaining IS rank and file that were collapsing after the fierce shelling of their positions,” he added.

Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik said rebels had “near complete control” of Al-Bab. “When the search and combing operations are over, we will be able to say that Al-Bab has been completely cleared of Daesh (IS) elements,” he said, quoted by state-run Anadolu news agency.

Isik reaffirmed that Turkey was now ready to join any operation by international coalition forces to take the Syrian city of Raqa, the extremist group’s de facto capital.

Turkey sent troops into Syria in August last year in an operation it said targeted not only IS but also US-backed Kurdish fighters whom it regards as terrorists.

The battle for Al Bab has been the bloodiest of the campaign with at least 69 Turkish soldiers killed.

The town was also seen as a prize by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, who had advanced to just 1.5 kilometres from Al Bab in recent weeks.

“Al Bab is important, insofar as its taking from IS will deprive the group of a tax base and an area where it was able to congregate and plot attacks against Syrians and the West,” said Aaron Stein, a senior fellow at the US-based Atlantic Council.

“For Turkey, the mission, as was defined back in 2016, is now complete. Turkish forces have forced IS from the border and cut the overland route between the two Kurdish cantons” in northern Syria, he said. “However, Turkey will now have to grapple with the questions of prolonged occupation of a foreign country and help to oversee the transition to civilian rule, a tall task for any foreign military,” Stein added.

130 bodies found in mass graves

The bodies of some 130 fighters shot execution-style or beheaded by rival jihadists have been found in mass graves in northwestern Syria, a monitoring group and rebel sources said on Thursday.

The grim discovery comes nearly a week after clashes in Idlib province between the jihadist Jund al-Aqsa rebel group and Al Qaeda’s former Syrian affiliate and allied factions.

At least 131 bodies were found on Wednesday and Thursday in two separate mass graves near the town of Khan Sheikun, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Some had been shot and others beheaded.

Talks stumble over format

The UN’s Syria envoy met rival negotiators gathered for peace talks in Geneva on Thursday, but even getting them into the same room appeared uncertain as hopes remained slim for a breakthrough.

Persistent violence and deadlock over Syria’s political future are clouding the start of “Geneva 4”, the fourth round of UN-sponsored talks on the conflict which has killed more than 310,000 people since 2011.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura had already warned that he was not expecting a breakthrough in the first peace talks since April last year.

On Thursday, he held separate meetings with the government and opposition delegates, notably to discuss the agenda and the format for negotiations proper.

Mistura said he hoped to bring them together later in the day, but a tentatively-planned afternoon event was delayed amid disagreement over arrangements.

After the initial bilateral talks with De Mistura, an opposition source said the UN envoy was understood to want a “round-table” with all the parties.

But the opposition is divided between the main umbrella High Negotiations Committee (HNC) — which wants direct negotiations with the Syrian government — and delegations from Cairo and Moscow.

“This is not accepted at all since it means all parties are equal and will turn to be exchanging points of view and not negotiating,” the opposition source said.

On the eve of the talks, Russia called on Syrian President Bashar al Assad to stop bombing during the discussions — but Mistura downplayed hopes for the negotiations. “I am not expecting a breakthrough,” the veteran diplomat said, noting that “momentum” toward further talks was likely the best that can be hoped for.

The ground — both in territory and diplomatically — has shifted since the last UN-sponsored talks broke up in April, and the rebels are in a significantly weaker position.

The Syrian army has recaptured the rebel bastion of eastern Aleppo and the United States, once staunchly opposed to President Assad, has said it is reassessing every aspect of its Syria policy under President Donald Trump.

A bitter dispute over Assad’s fate also continues to divide the camps. De Mistura’s office has said that the talks remain focused on “political transition”. “We hope to see something achieved here in Geneva 4 because there is no way Syrians will be moving to Geneva 5 with this cost they are paying in Syria,” said the HNC spokesman. “We hope to end it right now here.”

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2017