Geneva // Representatives of Syria's main opposition body arrived in Switzerland on Saturday for UN-organised peace talks even as doubts remained over the extent of their participation.
The opposition delegation arrived as tensions once again flared between two of the biggest external stakeholders in the Syrian conflict, Russia and Turkey.
Nato-member Turkey said another Russian warplane violated its airspace on Friday despite several warnings — two months after Turkey's military shot down a Russian jet for crossing over its territory.
The High Negotiations Committee (HNC) begrudgingly bowed only late on Friday to US and Saudi pressure to at least show up in Geneva to test the waters for joining the biggest push yet to end a five-year-old civil war.
But the body insists it will not engage in formal negotiations, even indirectly, with President Bashar Al Assad's regime until UN Security Council resolutions requiring an end to sieges of towns are adhered to.
"We will not sit down at the negotiating table if our people continue to be massacred," HNC spokesman Salem Al Meslet said on Friday. It is also pressing for bombardments of civilians to cease.
The six months of talks were scheduled to start on Friday under an ambitious road map set out in Vienna in November.
A source close to the HNC said the group was sending 17 negotiators and 25 others to the Swiss city. A 16-member delegation representing Mr Al Assad's government arrived on Friday.
Backed by external powers embroiled in Syria's war, the talks are seeking to end a conflict that has killed more than 260,000 people and fuelled the rise of the extremist groups such as ISIL.
Millions of those fleeing the conflict have sought refuge in neighbouring countries and hundreds of thousands have risked their lives to reach Europe.
The complexities of the Syrian conflict, involving a tangled web of moderate rebels, Islamist fighters, Kurds, jihadists and regime forces backed by Moscow and Iran, pose a huge challenge to the talks, experts say.
"There is every reason to be pessimistic, and there is no realistic scenario in which a breakthrough would be reached," said Karim Bitar, analyst at the Paris-based Institute of International and Strategic Relations.
The future of Mr Al Assad, emboldened by recent territorial gains against rebels thanks to Russian support, in any peace deal remains uncertain.
ISIL attacks in Paris and elsewhere are leading some Western countries to moderate their demands for his swift departure, with some starting to see him as the lesser evil, experts say.
For now, no face-to-face talks between the opposition and the regime are expected. Instead "proximity talks" are envisioned whereby UN envoy Staffan de Mistura will shuttle between participants.
Excluded meanwhile, in the initial stages of the talks at least, are Kurdish representatives, with Saudi Arabia and in particular Turkey vehemently opposed to their participation.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet his US counterpart John Kerry on February 11 to review progress in the talks, Mr Lavrov's office said.
Meanwhile, a war of words erupted between Turkey and Russia after Turkey's foreign ministry said the Russian SU-34 crossed into Turkish airspace on Friday, ignoring several warnings in Russian and in English by Turkish radar units.
It said Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to the ministry on Friday evening to "strongly protest" the violation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Moscow on Saturday that it would be forced to "endure the consequences" if its jets continue to violate Turkish airspace
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also called on Russia "to act responsibly and to fully respect Nato airspace" but also urged "calm and de-escalation" of tensions between Moscow and Ankara.
*Agence France-Presse
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