Summary
Syria's fragmented opposition and rebel groups sought common ground Wednesday ahead of planned negotiations to end a conflict which has devastated the country and drawn forces from Cold War and Middle East rivals into ever-deeper combat operations.
The powerful Kurdish YPG is among several groups excluded from the talks and those there are deeply divided over central issues like how to manage a transition from Assad and the role Islam should play in Syria.
U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura Wednesday said Russia, the United States and the United Nations will hold three-way talks on the Syria crisis in Geneva Friday.
Russia's air campaign has helped the Syrian army, backed by Hezbollah fighters and the Iranian military, to halt a rebel advance over the summer which had threatened Assad's control over the main population centers in western Syria. Russian airstrikes, while containing rebel advances, have not decisively tipped the war in Assad's favor.
Delegates said there was some Kurdish representation, but a Western diplomat who follows Syria said this week the meeting had not brought together as many Syrian factions as hoped.
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