Farah Atassi

The United States authorities have said current President Bashar al-Assad's departure is no longer a priority to end the conflict, netting reaction from the opposition in the war-thorn country.

However, on March 30, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in New York said the new administration of President Donald Trump is no longer focused on ousting Assad.

Syria's main opposition group said Feb. 2 that it will not attend a planned afternoon meeting with the U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura, adding further doubts about the prospects for peace talks in Switzerland.

"There is no meeting with de Mistura," said Farah Atassi, member of the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee (HNC).  

Members of the main Syrian opposition group said Feb. 1 that they plan to give U.N. Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura a "roadmap" for implementation of their humanitarian demands on Syria that they say must happen before they formally join indirect peace talks with a government delegation in Geneva.