Syrian regime to quit Geneva talks, says unsure if it will return
The opposition, united in one delegation for the first time, defied calls to stop asking for Assad to step down before any peace deal can be reached.
Bashar al Jaafari, the Syrian UN Ambassador, arrives prior to a round of negotiations during the intra-Syria talks, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, November 29, 2017.
Syria's top regime negotiator said on Friday his team was quitting UN-led peace talks in Geneva and might not return next week, blaming the opposition's rejection of any role for regime leader Bashar al Assad in a transition.
Opposition groups met in Riyadh last month to hammer out a unified position ahead of the Geneva talks after two years of Russian military intervention that has helped Assad's regime recapture all of Syria's main cities, which gave Damascus the upper hand after more than six years of war.
TRT World's Andrew Hopkins reports from Geneva.
"As long as the other side sticks to the language of Riyadh, there will be no progress," Bashar al Jaafari said after a morning of talks, adding that the Damascus would decide if his delegation would return next week.
Pressed whether the regime delegation would return to Geneva next week, Jaafari replied, "Damascus will decide."
In a communique issued at the end of last month's round of talks, the opposition reiterated its position that Assad can have no role in a political transition: "The participants stressed that (this) cannot happen without the departure of ... Assad and his clique at the start of the interim period.
Jaafari said the opposition statement was a kind of "mine" on the road to Geneva and the opposition had purposefully undermined the talks.
"The language is provocative, irresponsible – politically speaking, and goes beyond the hopes of the Syrian people in this kind of talks."
Nasr Hariri, the opposition delegation chief, said on Friday said his side had come to Geneva for serious, direct negotiations with Assad's regime.
The opposition was to have talks with de Mistura later on Friday.
"We call on the international community to put pressure on the regime to engage with this process," he said in a statement.
Mistura said on Thursday the talks would run until December 15, but that the government delegation might return to Damascus to "refresh and consult" before a resumption probably on Tuesday.
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