As a week of peace talks in Geneva drew to a close on Friday, the opposing sides in Syria’s civil war were still stuck on the question of how to proceed.<br /><br />With both parties in entrenched positions, Bashar al-Assad’s government has not yet confirmed its attendance at further talks expected to take place on February 10.<br /><br />Despite the slow progress, UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi is slightly more optimistic than he was earlier in the week.<br /><br />“Progress is very slow indeed,” he said. “The gaps between the sides remain wide; there is no use pretending otherwise. Nevertheless, during our discussions, I observed a little bit of common ground – perhaps more than the two sides realise or recognise.”<br /><br />In a deal brokered by the US and Russia last year, Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons.<br /><br />The plan is currently six to eight weeks behind schedule, with a Danish ship taking away the first consignment of toxic chemicals just last week.<br /><br />Despite the delay, Russia has said June 30 is still a viable deadline by which to destroy al-Assad’s arsenal of toxic agents.
