Syria regime agrees to attend peace talks

BEIRUT -- Syria's government has agreed to attend a U.S.-Russian-brokered peace conference, according to Moscow. While this development might seem at first glance to be a step toward ending the civil war, strong skepticism persists on both sides.

Doubting that Damascus is serious and may be stalling while government forces make battlefield gains, the Syrian opposition has demanded guarantees that President Bashar Assad's departure top the agenda; Russia questioned whether the fragmented opposition is capable of negotiating with one voice.

The war has killed more than 70,000 people, and both sides are firmly entrenched in their positions and appear unwilling to compromise to stop the carnage and chaos engulfing the country.

"We are not willing to enter a tunnel with no guarantees of a light at the end of that tunnel," said Muhieddine Lathkani, a London-based Syrian opposition figure. "There's still a lot of fogginess surrounding the talks," he said.

Much about the conference remains up in the air, including the date, the agenda, the timetable and the participants. Officials have said it should be held in June.

The United States is working to persuade Syrian rebels to attend, and the Russians have been pressing Assad's regime to take part as well.

U.S. officials said Secretary of State John Kerry will extend a seven-day trip through the Middle East and Africa by one day to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday to discuss their joint initiative.

Assad has already indicated he will stay in power at least until the 2014 presidential election in Syria and has nothing to lose by agreeing to take part in the conference.

While going along with an initiative proposed by his Russian allies and agreeing to participate, Assad gains more time to continue with his crackdown on the rebels.

Kerry made clear at a "Friends of Syria" conference in Jordan this week that more aid to the rebels would be coming if the regime refuses to cooperate with an international effort to form a transitional government.