Clarification:

Earlier versions of this article said the Syrian government used the word "interlopers" to describe the United States and other nations that back the Syrian rebels. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said those nations were interfering, but he did not use that term.

Syria talks begin in rancor; foreign minister lashes out at Kerry, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon

Video: Syrian government representatives refuse to consider an end to the Assad government while the international community demands a transitional government to end the civil war.

By Anne Gearan and , Updated: Wednesday, January 22, 9:15 PM E-mail the writers

 

MONTREUX, Switzerland — Peace talks to end Syria's nearly three years of civil war got off to a shaky start Wednesday, with finger-pointing by the Syrian government and its political opponents, and disagreement about what the goal of negotiations should be.

Syria's government set a bitter tone for the first negotiations of the country's long and bloody civil war, and opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cast doubt on follow-up face-to-face talks set to begin Friday.

Timeline: Unrest in Syria

Two years after the first anti-government protests, conflict in Syria rages on. See the major events in the country's tumultuous uprising.

Gallery

Saving Syrian lives: Hundreds of doctors and health workers are trying to help those affected by the Syrian war. Photographs by Magnum's Stuart Franklin follow doctors at work as thousands of Syrians continue to leave the country to become refugees in neighboring Turkey and Jordan.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem accused Arab neighbors of sowing terrorism and insurrection, and he dismissed as interlopers the United States and other Western backers of Syrian rebels. He told foreign ministers endorsing the long-delayed peace talks that their nations could best help by ending what he called the funding of terrorism and extremism in Syria, or by leaving the Damascus government alone.

"We have come here to put an end to terrorism and its bitter consequences," Moualem said, referring to the rebels fighting to unseat Assad. "Diplomacy and terrorism cannot go in parallel. Diplomacy must succeed by fighting terrorism."

Syria's government agreed to attend the talks but has rejected the premise that the goal is to establish a temporary government to replace Assad. Russia, a co-sponsor of the conference, insists that Assad's ouster is not automatic. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged delegates not to "predetermine the outcome."

Opposition leader Ahmad Assi al-Jarba said those fighting Assad will never accept a negotiated settlement that keeps him in power, and he suggested that further talks are pointless if the Assad government rejects the premise of a transition government.

Jarba implored the delegates from more than 30 nations to move quickly to end the conflict.

"Time is like a sword," Jarba said through an interpreter. "And for the Syrian people, time is now blood."

Other opposition figures and the Syrian regime said the talks are on track. Jarba's coalition had resisted attending for months, fearing that the talks would only solidify Assad's military gains and further divide the mostly expatriate political opponents and the frontline rebels.

United Nations and Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi told reporters that the exact format of the talks on Friday has not been determined. He said he may need more time to discuss the terms before bringing the two sides into the same room.

Those direct negotiations planned for the nearby Swiss city of Geneva would be the first extended talks between Syria's government and opposition forces. The talks would take place only in the presence of mediators from the United Nations.

The gathering opened amid renewed allegations of widespread human rights abuses by Assad's government. A report issued by three former war crimes prosecutors accuses the regime of the systematic torture and execution of about 11,000 prisoners since the uprising began. Several speakers Wednesday referred to the new allegations, which appear to back up rebel claims of torture and may help draw support for the opposition cause.

Wednesday's round of speeches by more than 30 foreign ministers offered an opportunity for the world to show support for a diplomatic effort. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, like many other speakers, said the only solution to a war that has killed more than 130,000 people is a political settlement between Assad and his committed opponents.

Even the world powers sponsoring the event do not agree on what it is supposed to achieve, however. Expectations are low for either a resolution of the military deadlock or an end to the Assad family's decades of rule. The United States has ruled out sending forces to Syria and has put any other outside military intervention on indefinite hold.

President Obama said recently that he is "haunted by what's happened" in Syria but does not think he miscalculated. "It is very difficult to imagine a scenario in which our involvement in Syria would have led to a better outcome," Obama said in a New Yorker profile that came out Friday.

Kerry, who has called the Syrian president a killer unworthy of his office, reiterated the U.S. position that the only solution for Syrians is a new government.

"We need to deal with reality here," Kerry said. "Bashar Assad will not be part of that transition government."

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal echoed Kerry in insisting that Assad has no role in a future Syrian government.

When it was his turn to speak, Moualem rebuked the chief U.S. diplomat directly.

"No one, Mr. Kerry, in the world has the right to give legitimacy or to withdraw legitimacy from a president, a government, a constitution or a law or anything in Syria, except Syrians," he said.

Moualem spoke in Arabic, through an interpreter, but switched to English to argue with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the conference host. Ban had interrupted Moualem to remind him that he had run well over his allotted eight minutes at the microphone.

"You live in New York. I live in Syria," Moualem retorted. "I have the right to give the Syrian version here in this forum. After three years of suffering, this is my right."

Moualem and Ban argued for several minutes, talking over one another, as other delegates exchanged looks.

"Let me finish my speech," Moualem said angrily, and Ban let him go on.

Moualem told the delegates that al-Qaeda-linked militants fighting Syrian troops have steadily gained ascendancy in the rebel-held north of the country. He disputed the characterization of the war as an uprising or internal "revolution," saying that the fighters battling Assad's troops come from more than 80 nations.

Many of the nations represented here have backed the rebels in the conflict, sending arms, money or other help. Russia, an ally and military supplier for Assad, is a co-sponsor of the event, but Iran — Syrian's staunchest military patron — was excluded.

Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, complained that most participants appeared to be "pre-selected" and biased against Syria.

In a mark of the high emotions on all sides, the closing news conference with Brahimi and Ban erupted in shouting, as Syrian journalists accused Ban of ignoring their questions.

Syrian activists who came to cover the meeting for opposition news organizations expressed disappointment that the Syrian government was so uncompromising.

"Nothing has changed," said Adnan Hadad of the Aleppo Media Center. "They came here to say the same old stuff they've been saying for the past three years."

Still, Wednesday's nine-hour session of speeches was notable simply because members of the Syrian opposition and the government sat in the same room without walking out.

Ban said afterward that the discussions were cordial, and Kerry said the initial confrontations were to be expected.

"Opening positions are opening positions," he told reporters. He set no timetable for the negotiations but suggested they will be lengthy and difficult. "Talk takes awhile," Kerry said.

Diplomats and U.S. officials have cautioned that political breakthroughs are unlikely now. Rather, they say, the effort begun Wednesday will focus on confidence-building measures such as local cease-fires and deliveries of humanitarian aid — steps that might help build wider support for a peace process ahead of future talks.

Ban said those discussions are likely, and welcome, but he also set no timetable.

Diplomats attending the session said the two sides' uncompromising public posturing concealed a deeper desire to see at least some results emerge from the negotiations.

"This was their public position," said Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. "It was very obvious they were raising the rhetoric. I think their private positions will be different. . . . We don't know what will happen in closed rooms."

The day closed on a more conciliatory note. In final comments, a more subdued Moualem said the conference had "charted the first steps to dialogue."

Jaafari told reporters, "There is a need to have this kind of Syrian-Syrian dialogue."

Jarba added, "We have to open the way for negotiations."

Suzan Haidamous and Susannah George in Beirut contributed to this report.