Syrian opposition won't participate in peace talks

[May 30, 2013]  BEIRUT (AP) -- Syria's main Western-backed opposition group says it will not participate in U.S.-Russian sponsored peace talks while the regime is carrying out massacres in Syria.

Thursday's announcement came at the end of weeklong opposition talks in Istanbul to try and forge a united view on whether to take part in the peace conference expected to take place in Geneva next month.

A spokesman for the Syrian National Coalition, Khalid Saleh, says an "international conference on a political solution to the situation in Syria has no meaning in light of the massacres that are taking place."

[Associated Press; By BARBARA SURK]

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