US confirms Geneva II conference postponed till July

A conference in Geneva, Switzerland, that is expected to bring the Syrian regime and opposition on the same table has been postponed until July, the US State Department confirmed Monday. The international meeting was initially set for mid-June, the State Department said and added it reamined hopeful the Syrian opposition could make significant progress with regards to their unified structure despite the postponement of the conference. "More important for us than a deadline or a timeline, even though we want to do this as soon as possible, is making sure the right ingredients are in place. That includes the opposition electing leadership, which they need to do. That's the next step," said Jennifer Psaki, spokesperson for the State Department. "That includes working with the Russians, working with the opposition, working with the UN to determine the agenda and what will happen during this conference. And all those pieces take time. So obviously, we want to do it sooner rather than later." The US also reaffirmed its commitment to further funding for the Syrian Opposition Coalition, announcing provision of USD 250 million, nearly half of which has already been transferred. As the US seeks a stronger and more united front from the opposition, the spokesperson indicated that the remaining USD 127 million are not necessarily being withheld for that reason. "We are not naive about the challenges that they have faced and how difficult it is to do what they're trying to do, which is to expand their membership with several different components, to elect leadership," Psaki noted. "Of course we would have liked to have seen it happen more quickly, but we also are not unaware of the challenges. So at this stage, we are hopeful that they will move forward in electing leadership, which is the next natural step. And the step following that would be their decision about attending the conference, which, again, we feel is an important step towards a political transition." To date, USD 123 million have been provided for the Syrian opposition. According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington has also given nearly USD 514 million for humanitarian relief in Syria since the conflict began in 2011.