Syria says Saudi, Qatar, Turkey told opposition to quit Geneva talks

GENEVA The head of the Syrian government's delegation on Wednesday accused the opposition of wanting to withdraw from peace talks under pressure from regional powers, and the United Nations of suspending the talks until Feb. 25 to avoid such a walk-out.

Bashar Ja'afari, Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, who leads the Damascus delegation, told reporters in Geneva: "We knew few hours ago the Riyadh (opposition) wanted to withdraw from the talks and that's why Mr. De Mistura's announcement came as a political coverage of the decision to withdraw.

"We consider that the style used by the Special Envoy to justify the withdrawal of Riyadh delegation under instructions from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey was not subjective. It didn't say the truth as it was," he said, speaking before going into talks with U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura.

(Reporting by Kinda Makieh and Stephanie Nebehay, writing by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Tom Miles and Alison Williams)