Homs blasts threaten to derail Syria talks in Geneva

Officials and rebels spar over attacks targeting government positions as UN envoy suspects
'spoilers' behind violence.

Geneva, Switzerland - Deadly suicide attacks in the Syrian
government-held city of Homs threaten to derail talks in
Geneva, with government and opposition delegates in the
Swiss city sparring over the violence.

General Hassan Daabul, an army intelligence chief and 
close confidant of President Bashar al-Assad , was among
 the dozens killed on Saturday in blasts targeting two security
service bases in Homs.

Hayet Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, claimed 
the attack.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at
least 42 people were killed, but the provincial governor put
 the figure at 30 dead.

At a press conference in Geneva late on Saturday, Bashar al-
Jaafari, the lead government negotiator, demanded that the
opposition delegation officially condemn the attacks in Homs.

If they failed to do so, the government would consider them
"terrorists", he said.

"Today, the test is that we expect that the [opposition]
platforms [in Geneva] condemn this terrorist attack ... If
anyone refuses to condemn this terrorist attack then he is
 an accomplice of terrorism and we will deal with them
accordingly."

Jaafari focused nearly the entire 45-minute press 
conference on the need to combat "terrorism".


Rebels respond

Later, at a separate press conference, leaders of Syria's
 main opposition camp condemned the attacks in Homs as
"terrorism", but it was unclear which group they blamed for
the attacks.

"Our positions are clear in condemning terrorism and
terrorists," said Nasr al-Hariri, the chief negotiator for the
opposition High Negotiations Committee.

He singled out groups the opposition condemns including 
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL ) group and former al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front .

Al-Nusra Front became Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which is
 the group that created Hayet Tahrir al-Sham. In addition, 
he condemned the Syrian government itself and its affiliated Iran - backed militias.

However, in a follow-up question, Fateh Hassoun, a Free
Syrian Army (FSA) colonel, implied that the attacks were
"facilitated" by the Syrian government.

"The region where the security branches are is very secure
and no operation could reach it unless it was facilitated by
the security forces," he said.

"What happened today could be counted as liquidation by 
the regime of [detainees] who are wanted by international courts."

Hassoun said he used to be an officer in state security.

"I know how the regime can use events to serve its purposes
… and I know how they can twist things to effect the Geneva
negotiations," he said.

Almost all of Homs has been under government control 
since May 2014, when rebels withdrew from the centre 
under a UN- brokered truce deal.

But it has seen repeated bombings since, including twin
attacks last year that killed 64.

Al-Waer attacks

The Syrian Observatory said that Syrian army air strikes 
on Saturday also killed 13 civilians across the country, including three in the last government-besieged rebel 
enclave of Homs, the al-Waer neighbourhood.

Speaking to media in Geneva, Issam al-Reis, spokesman
for the Southern Front branch of the FSA, accused the Assad
government of staging Saturday's attacks in Homs to
influence the Geneva talks.

"During the last Geneva talks, an explosion happened in the
government area of Sayyida Zeinab," he said.

"But now, we're talking about military and security branches,
which is a military zone inside the [Homs] Green Zone. No
one is allowed to enter these areas, not even close.

"This order is coming from the same branch ... because
 the pressure the regime is getting from Russia to be in the
ceasefire may have pushed the regime to find an excuse to
launch an attack."

In a statement released on Saturday evening, Staffan de
Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, said the "horrific
terrorist attack" in Homs was an attempt to derail the
 peace talks.

"Spoilers were always expected, and should continue to 
be expected, to try to influence the proceedings of the talks," the statement said. "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."