Syrian government says will not surrender power at Geneva talks

Syrian authorities will attend talks in January aimed at resolving the civil war but will not succumb to Western demands for President Bashar al-Assad to step aside, a Foreign Ministry source said on Wednesday. It was the first formal response from Damascus to this week's announcement of a January 22 peace conference in Geneva, convened by the United Nations, Russia and the United States. The "Geneva 2" conference will have the stated goal of agreeing a transitional government to end the 2-1/2-year-old conflict that has killed well over 100,000 people and displaced millions. "If they insist on these delusions, there is no need for them to attend Geneva 2," said the source in a statement carried by the official SANA news agency.