Members of Syria's main opposition group arrived in Geneva Saturday, but it is not clear whether the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee will participate directly in U.N.-backed talks on a political settlement of the Syrian civil war.
Despite the absence of the opposition delegation, U.N. officials opened the talks Friday in Geneva the first international effort for a peace settlement since earlier U.N. negotiations collapsed in 2014.
Talks began with a meeting between the U.N. special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, and a Syrian government delegation headed by the country's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Jaafari.