Syria opposition delays Istanbul meeting

Syria’s deeply divided foreign-backed opposition has postponed voting on whether to attend next week’s Geneva II conference.

The so-called Syrian National Coalition’s spokesman, Anas al-Abda, said late on Friday that the voting has been delayed until Saturday noon.

“The voting on Geneva II participation has been postponed until tomorrow noon, for one main reason. We have a number of important brigades that are meeting at the moment and to discuss Geneva II,” Abda said.

He added that “we already sent some delegates to talk to them and we are waiting to hear their feedback.”

The vote was supposed to be held on Friday in Istanbul.

Many members of the SNC say the conference has little chance of success.

The Geneva II conference will open in the Swiss city of Montreux on January 22. The conference is seen as a chance to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies – namely Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

A recent British defense study published by IHS Jane’s showed that about 100,000 militants, fragmented into 1,000 groups, are fighting in Syria against the government and people.

On January 7, the UN said its human rights office had stopped counting the victims of the Syrian conflict, confirming that it could no longer verify the sources of information that led to its last count.

In late July 2013, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that there were more than 100,000 casualties from the war in Syria. The office was only counting victims whose names, place and date of death could be confirmed.