MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND — The long-awaited second international conference on Syria opened with confrontational statements by the country's government and opposition Wednesday, and their main international backers, Russia and the United States, also presented opposing viewpoints.

In the peaceful setting located between a placid lake and snow-capped mountains, the subject was war, rape, mutilation and child murder. Accusations flew in all directions, and participants presented starkly different views of Syria’s future.

The president of the opposition coalition, Ahmad al-Jarba, held up a photo of a mutilated body to help make his point, accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of using terrorist fighters from the Lebanese group Hezbollah and troops from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to kill and oppress Syrian civilians. Al-Jarba said the only aim of the conference, in keeping with the communique of the previous meeting 18 months ago, is to replace Assad with a transitional government.

The regime’s representative, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, was defiant, accusing the opposition and its foreign supporters of bringing terrorism to Syria. Al-Moualem addressed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry directly, saying no one can declare that President Assad is illegitimate.

Secretary Kerry had done just that in his speech to the opening session.

“There is no way, no way possible in the immagination, that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern,” Kerry said, adding that the only way forward is to create a transition government, without Assad.

The secretary’s partner in calling for the conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, has a different view of the meaning of the communique from the previous meeting.

Lavrov told the diplomats from dozens of countries that radical groups are trying to impose their own vision on Syria. He also noted that the direct talks among the Syrian parties, which begin Friday in Geneva, will not be easy or quick, but said they do have a realistic chance of success.

That is an optimistic view compared to many analysts, who note that the two sides don’t even want to talk about the same things. The opposition says it will only discuss Assad’s departure. The Syrian government wants to talk about fighting “terrorism.”

The experts say there might be agreement on local ceasefires, the creation of humanitarian aid corridors and some prisoner exchanges. But even that is not certain, and some analysts say the best that can be hoped for is agreement to meet again.

Source: VOA