VIENNA — Syria berated Saudi Arabia Thursday in bitter comments foreshadowing difficulties ahead for talks gathering key players and focused on ending the conflict.
Syria is not at the Vienna talks, which formally begin Friday. But as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior dignitaries arrived in the Austrian capital, Syria’s information minister lashed out at Saudi Arabia, saying it is not qualified to play a “productive” role in resolving the conflict because it is shedding the blood of Muslims and Arabs there, in Yemen and in Iraq.
