Talks off to rocky start over future of Assad

Peace talks to carve a path out of Syria’s civil war got off to a rocky start yesterday as a bitter clash over Bashar Assad’s future threatened to collapse negotiations even before they had begun.

The dispute over the president cast a pall over an international conference that aims to map out a transitional government and ultimately, a democratic election for the country mired in fighting that has killed more than 130,000 people and displaced millions.

While diplomats sparred against a pristine Alpine backdrop, Syrian forces and opposition fighters clashed across a area from Aleppo and Idlib in the north to Daraa in the south, activists and state media said.