A Syrian peace conference in Russia got off to a rocky start on Tuesday after some delegates opposed to President Bashar al-Assad refused to leave the airport on arrival, saying they were offended by the presence of the Syrian state’s flag and emblem. Reuters reporters said most of the delegates they had spoken to had come from Damascus and did not oppose Assad. One group of delegates who had flown in from Turkey and were opposed to Assad refused to leave Sochi airport until Syrian government flags and emblems were refused. “We will go back to Turkey,” Ahmad al-Burri, who has taken part in Syrian peace talks in Kazakhstan, told Reuters by phone. Russian officials have complained of attempts to sabotage the conference, but the Kremlin said on Monday it was unfazed by a Syrian opposition decision to boycott the event.

Source: Egypt Independent January 30, 2018 10:07 UTC