According to a report from the Wall Street Journal,''In a setback to the Syria peace talks in Switzerland, the main opposition group said it refused to meet face-to-face with the government delegation on Friday unless it agreed to discuss a transitional government that would replace President Bashar al-Assad''.
The opposition's decision was prompted by an inflammatory speech by a senior Syrian official, in the opening hours of the conference on Wednesday, insisting Mr. Assad would remain in power and accusing the opposition of fomenting terrorism, an opposition official said.
Delegates from the opposition and the government, who had been expected to meet in person, will now sit in separate rooms on Friday, said Monzer Akbik, the chief of staff of Ahmad Jarba, president of the Syrian Opposition Coalition.
The U.N. special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, will shuttle between the two parties, delivering messages and demands, Mr. Akbik said.
"We will go into the same room if they want to talk about a transitional government," Mr. Akbik said.
The decision underscored how lingering distrust is undercutting talks billed as a symbolic step toward dialogue.
For months, world powers and the United Nations have been pressing the two sides to sit together in the same room, saying such a gesture was key to building confidence.
"You can say the result is meager but the war has gone on for three years now and at least they're here meeting in the same room," one Western diplomat said on Wednesday, expressing a measure of early hope before the opposition called off a face-to-face meeting.
The two sides are still expected to make public statements together Friday and then move to separate rooms for the actual negotiations, according to a person familiar with the matter. The opposition and the regime delegation could still meet face-to-face on Saturday, the person said.
The stated central goal of the conference is the establishment of a transitional government that doesn't include Mr. Assad or members of his regime. The Assad regime has insisted that discussion of his removal is a "red line" it won't cross in the talks.
When the talks opened on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry focused on the Western demand that Mr. Assad step down. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem rejected that demand and accused the U.S. and its allies of supporting terrorist groups seeking to destabilize the Damascus regime, a reference to the opposition.
