Syria conflict: Syria under pressure ahead of peace talks

On Saturday, two days before the scheduled start of the Geneva talks, Syria's foreign minister ruled out any discussion of presidential elections.

US Secretary of State John Kerry responded by accusing Damascus of "trying to disrupt the process".

He was speaking after meeting European foreign ministers in Paris. France accused Syria of "provocation".

A cessation of hostilities agreed by most participants in the conflict began late last month. It excludes so-called Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda's branch in Syria.

The purpose of the partial and temporary truce was to enable to the warring sides and their foreign backers to launch a fresh attempt to end the five-year conflict.

But the latest diplomatic row began when Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Saturday that any talk of a new presidential election was off the agenda. "This is an exclusive right of the Syrian people,'' he said.

The main Syrian opposition umbrella group, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), said the pre-conditions could halt the talks before they had even started.

On Sunday Mr Kerry met his counterparts from France, the UK, Germany, Italy and the European Union in Paris.

Afterwards he said Mr Muallem was "clearly trying to disrupt the process", adding that Syria's allies, Russia and Iran, had made clear "there must be a political transition and that we must have a presidential election at some time".

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Syria's "provocations" were a "bad sign and did not reflect the spirit of the ceasefire".

On Sunday the HNC said it would push for an interim government in which President Bashar al-Assad and the current leadership would have no role.

The indirect talks in Geneva are mediated by the United Nations. UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura has said he wants presidential elections to be held in the next 18 months.

The fate of President Assad has been one of the main stumbling blocks in previous talks. The last round collapsed in February without agreement.

More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed and about 11 million people have been forced from their homes in five years of Syria's civil war, which began with an uprising against Mr Assad.

Government forces, supported by Russian air strikes, have made gains against rebel fighters in recent months.

(BBC)