A second round of peace talks between the Syrian government and the opposition got bogged down quickly over who was responsible for escalating violence that has killed hundreds in the past few days and disrupted food aid for trapped civilians.
UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi held separate closed-door meetings in Geneva with the Syrian government and opposition delegations to try to set an agenda for the coming week.
The first face-to-face meetings adjourned 10 days ago having achieved little beyond getting the warring sides into the same room. This time, the two appeared even farther apart – with no immediate plans to even sit at the same table.
“The negotiations cannot continue while the regime is stepping up its violence against the Syrian people,” opposition spokesman Louay Safi told reporters following a 90-minute meeting with Mr Brahimi. “It is not acceptable that the regime will send its own delegation to talk peace while it is killing our people in Syria. This must stop. We asked the international community to do something about it.” The opposition insists the talks’ aim is to agree on a transitional governing body that would replace president Bashar Assad. The government delegation wants to focus on halting “terrorism”, a reference to the rebels fighting to topple Assad.
But the increased violence on the ground provided ammunition for both sides to trade accusations.
Extremist Islamic rebels overran a village in central Syria populated by Assad’s Alawite minority, killing at least 40 people on Sunday, activists said. Half of the victims in the attack in Maan were civilians.