UN set to name date for Syria peace conference

The United Nations is expected to announce a date for a Syria peace conference after a UN Security Council vote Friday on eliminating the regime's chemical weapons. The major powers all expressed strong support for the conference ahead of a meeting with UN leader Ban Ki-moon to discuss a date. The talks will be followed by a Security Council vote on a US-Russian drafted resolution on destroying Assad's chemical weapons. The resolution will be the first passed by the 15-member body on Syria since the civil war -- which the UN says has killed more than 100,000 people -- started in March 2011. Russia is widely seen as having successfully shielded President Bashar al-Assad, its ally, from immediate international action in the text. Russia would not allow a resolution allowing automatic sanctions over an attack using banned chemical arms near Damascus on August 21. But the resolution allows for a possible new vote on sanctions if a breach of a Russian-US disarmament plan is found. Russia, backed by China, has vetoed three previous resolutions intended to increase pressure on Assad. All five permanent members of the Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- have strongly backed calls for a new peace conference however even though it faces multiple obstacles. US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the foreign ministers of Britain, China and France were due to discuss a date for a conference with Ban. The conference would be a follow-up to a meeting in Geneva in June 2012 that decided that there should be a Syrian transitional government with full powers. Ban and his Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi have had to put back organizing a followup conference several times because of the worsening conflict and divisions within the Syrian opposition and international powers. "We are going to see at this conference how divided the Syrian opposition is and how serious the Assad regime is to peace," said a senior Western official. "This event is a breakthrough, but it is really going to be hard work for the UN." Which countries take part in the question is already causing controversy. Iran, an ally of Assad, has staked a claim, but its presence is opposed by Western nations. The Syrian government has agreed to send a delegation, but officials have not said how much authority the negotiators would have. The opposition Syrian National Coalition has given provisional agreement to attending but has insisted in advance that Assad be kept out of any transitional government. The coalition in turn faces resistance from more militant groups. "We are for a political solution, we are willing to be there, but the goal of Geneva must be clear," opposition chief Ahmad al-Jarba said. "It is about transition to democracy, it must not be an open-ended dialogue with the regime," Jarba told a press conference in New York. "That has to be done within a clear timetable." Jarba said that all foreign fighters -- including Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian militias -- had to be kicked out of Syria before talks could start. "We need an international guarantee that whatever we arrive at is enforced and implemented," Jarba added.