Homs blasts threaten to derail Syria talks in Geneva
Deadly suicide attacks in the Syrian government-held city of Homs threaten to derail talks in Geneva, with government and opposition delegates in the Swiss city sparring over the violence.
General Hassan Daabul, an army intelligence chief and close confidant of President Bashar al-Assad, was among the dozens killed on Saturday in blasts targeting two security service bases in Homs.
Hayet Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, claimed the attack.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said at least 42 people were killed, but the provincial governor put the figure at 30 dead.
At a press conference in Geneva late on Saturday, Bashar al-Jaafari, lead government negotiator, demanded that the opposition delegation officially condemn the attacks in Homs.
If they failed to do so, the government would consider them "terrorists", he said.
"Today, the test is that we expect that the [opposition] platforms [in Geneva] condemn this terrorist attack ... If anyone refuses to condemn this terrorist attack then he is an accomplice of terrorism and we will deal with them accordingly."
Jaafari focused nearly the entirety of his 45-minute press conference on the need to combat "terrorism".
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