Backers of Syrian leader refuse to bend on eve of peace talks

BEIRUT — The Syrian government will not make any new concessions in future peace talks at a time when the Syrian army is making progress in different parts of the country, a senior official in President Bashar Assad’s ruling Baath party said in remarks published Sunday.

[...] Sunday, the government newspaper, Tishrin, said in an editorial that the Geneva talks should bring in only negotiators with genuine plans for rebuilding Syria and not “representatives for the agendas of terrorist-supporting countries that seek a seat for terrorism at the dialogue table.”

On Sunday, Syrian troops captured the town of Rabiaa and the village of Rawda in the coastal province of Latakia, their latest push since Russia began air strikes last year, according to state news agency SANA and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Russia began its air campaign Sept. 30, and Syrian troops and allied militiamen launched a ground offensive against rebels in different parts of Syria shortly afterward, regaining control of dozen of towns and villages.