A United Nations peace envoy has said a militant attack in Syria was a deliberate attempt to wreck peace talks in Geneva, while the warring sides appeared no closer to actual negotiations.

Suicide bombers stormed two Syrian security offices in Homs, killing dozens with gunfire and explosions, including the head of military security, prompting airstrikes against the last rebel-held enclave in the western city.

“Spoilers were always expected, and should continue to be expected, to try to influence the proceedings of the talks. It is in the interest of all parties who are against terrorism and are committed to a political process in Syria not to allow these attempts to succeed,” UN mediator Staffan de Mistura said in a statement.

De Mistura has met the two sides separately in Geneva while he tries to get agreement on how talks to end the six-year-old conflict should be arranged.

He has warned not to expect any quick breakthrough and to beware of letting the violence derail any fragile progress, as happened repeatedly in the past. A ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey with Iran’s support is increasingly being violated by both sides.

The jihadi rebel alliance Tahrir al-Sham, which opposes the talks – although it has fought alongside factions that are represented there – said that five suicide bombers had carried out Saturday’s attack. It celebrated with the words “thanks be to God” but stopped short of explicitly claiming responsibility.

Tahrir al-Sham was formed this year from several groups including Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which was formerly known as the Nusra Front and was al-Qaida’s Syrian branch until it broke formal allegiance in 2016.

After the meeting with De Mistura, the Syrian government’s lead negotiator, Bashar Jaafari, spoke to reporters and repeatedly demanded the opposition condemn the attacks or face the consequences.

“If anyone refuses to condemn this terrorist attack then he is an accomplice of terrorism and we will deal with them accordingly,” Jaafari said.

He ruled out leaving the talks, saying he would meet De Mistura again on Tuesday, but he implied that some of the opponents that he had sat face-to-face with at Thursday’s opening ceremony were “sponsors of terrorism”.

Warplanes also carried out six raids on Douma in the eastern suburbs of Damascus, resulting in six deaths, and earlier, an air raid in Hama killed four people from the same family, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.









