BEIRUT— The UN special envoy for Syria said Saturday that a combined Syrian opposition delegation will take part in peace negotiations due to start next week in Geneva, as his deputy held talks with Syrian government officials in Damascus.
Staffan de Mistura’s statement came a day after the opposition named its unified delegation to the talks, which will start Tuesday. The 36-member delegation will be headed by Nasr al-Hariri, a cardiologist who took part in previous talks in Geneva over the past year.
Mistura took particular note that an opposition negotiating team has been allowed to negotiate in Geneva without any preconditions, apart from the implementation of relevant United Nations resolutions.
The opposition on Friday ended a three-day meeting in Saudi Arabia in which its representatives called for direct and unconditional negotiations with the Syrian government over the more than 6-year civil war that would lead to the launch of a transition period.
The opposition refrained from saying their participation in the upcoming UN-based negotiations would be conditional upon the departure of President Bashar Assad from office, signaling a degree of flexibility.
The issue has always been the sticking point in previous rounds of talks, deepening division among an already fragmented opposition.
Speaking in the Saudi capital of Riyadh late Friday, Hariri said ‘‘the direct talks are to achieve a specific goal which is political transition.’’ He added that all topics were up for discussion, an apparent reference to Assad’s future.
The Syrian government delegation had said in the past that the fate of Assad is not up for negotiation, vowing not to give the opposition through peace talks what they failed to achieve through war.
In Damascus, de Mistura’s deputy, Ramzy Ramzy, held talks with the country’s deputy foreign minister and Syria’s chief negotiator. There was no immediate word about the government’s delegation to the talks.
Ramzy told reporters after his meeting with Faisal Mekdad that the Geneva talks will be over four main topics — a new constitution, governance, elections, and combating terrorism. He added that the focus will be mostly on the constitution and elections, without elaborating.
Asked if he expects a breakthrough in the Geneva talks, Ramzy said ‘‘The political process is difficult and complicated because the situation in Syria is complicated, so we are building our strategy one step at a time.’’
‘‘I hope that the next round with effective participation of the government and the presence of a united opposition team will help in pushing the matter forward,’’ added Ramzy.
In a separate development, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in a new report to the Security Council that unauthorized weapons in the hands of Hezbollah and threatening rhetoric from the Lebanese militant group and Israeli officials ‘‘heightens risk of miscalculation and escalation into conflict.’’ He called on both sides to show restraint.
