MONTREUX (Switzerland): Peace talks intended to carve a path out of Syria's civil war got off to a rocky start on Wednesday as a bitter clash over President Bashar Assad's future threatened to collapse the negotiations even before they really begin.
The dispute over Assad cast a pall over the start of an international peace conference that aims to map out a transitional government and ultimately a democratic election for the war-torn Middle East nation.
While diplomats sparred against a pristine Alpine backdrop, Syrian forces and opposition fighters clashed across a wide area from Aleppo and Idlib in the north to Daraa in the south, where the uprising against Assad began three years ago, activists and state media said.
The dispute over Assad cast a pall over the start of an international peace conference that aims to map out a transitional government and ultimately a democratic election for the war-torn Middle East nation.
While diplomats sparred against a pristine Alpine backdrop, Syrian forces and opposition fighters clashed across a wide area from Aleppo and Idlib in the north to Daraa in the south, where the uprising against Assad began three years ago, activists and state media said.