Saudi-backed HNC leaders leave Syria talks

Top negotiators of Syria’s opposition group High Negotiations Committee (HNC) have quit ongoing peace talks with the government, one day after the Saudi-backed group halted its formal participation in the negotiations.

Riyad Hijab, HNC coordinator, said on Tuesday that he was leaving Geneva, Switzerland, repeating allegations that the Syrian government is violating a truce deal despite the talks.

"I will be travelling today along with some of my colleagues from the HNC. Some people left yesterday and today and they will keep leaving gradually until Friday," Hijab, who was speaking in Arabic, told journalists.

The Saudi-based negotiator said, however, that some delegates will remain in Geneva for technical discussions with UN staff and for workshops on humanitarian issues and detainees.

Hijab called for international observers to be sent into Syria and for ceasefire violators to be held to account. He repeated previous statements regarding the violation of truce by the Syrian government, saying Russia is also assisting Damascus in attacks on militant positions.

Syria’s chief envoy to the talks, Bashar Ja'afari, said there will be no problem for the talks if the HNC delegation leaves Geneva. Ja'afari said the HNC did not hold a monopoly among opposition groups.

"If they want to boycott, they can boycott. It's not a big problem for us because they are not the only representatives of the Syrian opposition,” said Ja'afari, adding that the arguments used by the HNC are not “convincing.”

“The other groups don't share the same assessment (of events on the ground) and this is why the talks will continue as smoothly as possible,” he said, accusing the HNC of repeatedly creating problems since the beginning of indirect talks on April 13.

Earlier in the day, Syrian army forces and allied Russian warplanes and helicopters carried out a series of counter-offensives against militants operating northwest of the country. Militant sources claimed dozens were killed in air strike carried out in the province of Idlib. The government offensive was apparently meant to avenge militant attacks on Latakia and Hama on Monday.

The surge of violence seems to have effectively abolished the ceasefire agreement which the United States and Russia engineered in late February in a bid to facilitate the talks.

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