The Syrian opposition says it will only engage in talks with the Syrian regime in Geneva on Friday if the discussions focus on the formation of an interim government comprising both opposition and regime forces.
"This is the main cause, this is why we are here, and we will not enter any talks that do not address this issue," Burhan Ghalioun, second lead delegate for the Syrian National Coalition of the Opposition, told dpa in Montreux.
On the first day of talks in Switzerland, Damascus demanded that the first ever direct negotiations between the two Syrian sides be devoted to tackling terrorism, ruling out any discussion on the status of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a "red line."