Bashar al-Assad’s fate key issue at peace talks in Geneva

Syrian government negotiators at Geneva peace talks are coming under unaccustomed pressure to discuss something far outside their comfort zone: The fate of president Bashar al-Assad. And they are doing their best to avoid it.

UN mediator Staffan de Mistura describes Syria’s political transition as “the mother of all issues” and, emboldened by the Russian and US muscle that brought the participants to the negotiating table, he refuses to drop the subject.

After a week of talks, he praised the opposition for the depth of their ideas, but criticised the veteran diplomats on the government side for getting bogged down.