GENEVA: The Syrian government and its opponents will hold their first joint meeting Saturday to launch peace talks aimed at resolving nearly three years of civil war, after negotiations almost collapsed before they started.
The face-to-face meeting had been planned for Friday, but the opposition said early on it would not meet the government side unless it first agreed to endorse a 2012 statement by world powers calling for a transitional government in Syria.
The government rejected the demand and said its negotiators would leave unless serious talks began within a day.