Bashar Ja'afari

The head of the Syrian government delegation at the Geneva peace talks has criticized Turkey's "aggression" and said his nation has the right to defend itself from foreign forces on its soil.

A new Syrian constitution was not discussed at talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Feb. 16, the head of Syria's government delegation has said.

The Syrian government's chief negotiator said on April 25 that an explosion south of the capital had struck a hospital, killing some patients evacuated last week from two rebel-besieged towns in the northwestern province of Idlib. 

The Syrian government's chief negotiator said his team was pushing for an expanded government led by President Bashar al-Assad at U.N.-led peace talks, and Assad's own future was not up for negotiation. 

Bashar Ja'afari told Lebanese TV news channel al Maydeen the larger government they wanted would preserve all the country's existing institutions. 

The head of the Syrian government delegation at peace talks in Geneva said he had a useful meeting with U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura on March 18, focusing on a government position paper on the "basic elements of a political solution" of the crisis. 

Negotiations over the Syria crisis are currently taking place in the Russian capital Moscow.

The talks that are also attended by representatives of the regime in Syria and some opposition leaders will continue until April 9.

The Syrian delegation in Moscow was headed by the country's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja'afari.

Syria has complained to the United Nations that U.S. Senator John McCain, former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and former U.S. diplomat Peter Galbraith entered the country without visas in separate visits in violation of its sovereignty.

The destruction of 12 chemical weapons facilities in Syria is expected to start later this month.

Syria's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, says the work should be complete by the end of June 2015.