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| Friction Grows Between Two Sides in Syria Talks | Friction Grows Between Two Sides in Syria Talks |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| GENEVA — New doubts emerged on Friday about whether the Syrian government and opposition representatives would engage in direct talks at the United Nations building here, as both sides sent conflicting signals about their willingness to continue the negotiations. | GENEVA — New doubts emerged on Friday about whether the Syrian government and opposition representatives would engage in direct talks at the United Nations building here, as both sides sent conflicting signals about their willingness to continue the negotiations. |
| On the third day of talks aimed at ending Syria’s civil war, a senior Syrian official declared that Mr. Assad’s government was committed to the framework for the meeting, while the country’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said the government delegation might leave Saturday unless “serious” talks began immediately. | On the third day of talks aimed at ending Syria’s civil war, a senior Syrian official declared that Mr. Assad’s government was committed to the framework for the meeting, while the country’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said the government delegation might leave Saturday unless “serious” talks began immediately. |
| Lakhdar Brahimi, the chief United Nations mediator and special envoy on Syria, met for about an hour with the government’s delegation and was to meet later in the afternoon with representatives of the opposition in a second day of separate talks with the parties to attempt to bring about face-to-face negotiations. | Lakhdar Brahimi, the chief United Nations mediator and special envoy on Syria, met for about an hour with the government’s delegation and was to meet later in the afternoon with representatives of the opposition in a second day of separate talks with the parties to attempt to bring about face-to-face negotiations. |
| A wide gap remained between the delegations, with the opposition demanding that the government formally confirm that it accepts the protocols set out at an earlier conference known as Geneva 1, which calls for a fully empowered transitional governing body to be formed by “mutual consent.” | |
| Syria’s government accepts the Geneva 1 communiqué, or else it would not be in Geneva, and is ready to begin negotiations, Syria’s deputy foreign minister, Fayssal Mekdad, told reporters as he arrived for talks a meeting with Mr. Brahimi. | |
| Brief hopes had arisen late Thursday that the two sides might be back on track for direct talks, but the opposition delegation then said that could not happen until the government accepted the Geneva communiqué. | Brief hopes had arisen late Thursday that the two sides might be back on track for direct talks, but the opposition delegation then said that could not happen until the government accepted the Geneva communiqué. |
| Demonstrators held the flags of the Syrian opposition and signs reading “Your silence is killing children” outside the Palace of Nations, the United Nations headquarters here, as the talks went on inside. | |
| It remained unclear whether any rebel commanders would show up for the talks. Jamal Maarouf, the head of the Syrian Revolutionary Front, the lone group that had committed unambiguously to attending, said in an interview on Friday morning that none of his representatives were in Geneva yet. |