Syrian peace talks degenerate into acrimony Syrian ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Ja'afari speaks during a press conference at the Syrian peace talks. Montreux, Switzerland: Friction and acrimony broke out almost immediately at the start of a long-delayed peace conference on Syria, punctuated by a testy exchange between the Syrian Foreign Minister and the leader of the United Nations, casting doubt on the prospects for easing hostilities or even opening up emergency aid corridors to help besieged civilians. The conference of delegates representing 30 countries in the lakeside Swiss city of Montreux, already troubled by last-minute diplomatic stumbles, was described by US Secretary of State John Kerry as a test for the international community. But the meeting had barely begun when the atmosphere grew even more charged over divisions between the United States and Russia and especially among the Syrians themselves. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, who led his country's delegation, was defiant, calling Syrian insurgents evil and ignoring appeals by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to avoid invective or even yield the floor as a bell rang signalling that he had exceeded the allotted time for his remarks. US Secretary of State John Kerry at the Syrian peace talks. "You live in New York, I live in Syria," Mr Moallem snapped after Mr Ban asked that he conclude his speech, which lasted more than 30 minutes. After Mr Moallem finished, Mr Ban lamented that his injunction that participants take a constructive approach to the crisis "had been broken." Despite the lack of concrete progress, several Syrians expressed hope that the conference signalled the start of a process in which Syrians might eventually overcome their differences. Amhad al-Jarba, the head of Syria's Western-backed Syrian National Coalition, holding up an image of alleged opposition torture victims during the Syrian peace talks. "It's a historic moment," said Ibrahim al-Hamidi, a veteran journalist for the Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper, originally from the northern Syrian city of Idlib. After three years of military struggle, when the opposition tried very hard to destroy the regime, and the regime tried very hard to crush the opposition, this is the first time the two delegations sit down in one room under UN auspices. But there was little sign of compromise or diplomatic restraint when Mr Moallem took the floor and launched into a diatribe in which he accused Arab nations of financing terrorism and conspiring to destroy his country. "They have used their petro-dollars to buy weapons," he said," and to flood the international media with lies." Mr Moallem also accused insurgents of conducting "sexual jihad" by brainwashing women into becoming sex slaves and engaging in incest. After Mr Ban repeatedly urged him to be concise, the Syrian Foreign Minister said he would conclude soon, adding that "Syria always keeps its promises." But he continued with his denunciations of the opposition. "Your glorious revolution," he said sarcastically, "did not leave one single evil deed on earth that it did not do." Ahmad al-Jarba, the president of the Syrian opposition, opened with the story of Hajar al-Khatib, 11, who he said had been shot by government forces as she rode a bus to school in Rastan, near the central city of Homs, in May 2011, in the early days of the anti-Assad protests that morphed into a civil war. "Ten thousand children have died because of the Syrian army," he asserted. Syrians "waited almost a year before they fought back," he said, referring to the transformation of a largely peaceful protest movement into an armed insurgency. Who, ladies and gentlemen, would accept to be violated in this manner? How long should they have waited? "We want to be sure we have a Syrian partner in this room," Mr Jarba said, alluding to the conference's goal of establishing a transitional administration. "Do we have such a partner?" he asked, noting that the opposition would never accept a role for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a transitional administration. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose country supports Syria's opposition and is home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, reacted sarcastically to Mr Moallem's charge that Turkey was backing terrorists. "Yes," he said, there were many "displaced terrorists in Turkey seeking food and refuge." French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was asked during his own brief remarks to the conference if the first day had been a dialogue of the deaf. "No, one delegation was deaf and blind but no one else," Mr Fabius said, referring to Mr Moallem's speech. And one delegation saw itself above all and responsible for nothing. Outside the conference, Dr Assad's supporters waved the flags of the Syrian government and Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant organisation that is helping him. "God, Bashar and nothing else!" they screamed. On the eve of the conference, Mr Kerry, Mr Ban and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov engaged in a calculated display of comity, a gesture that appeared intended to play down the United States' successful lobbying effort to persuade the UN to withdraw its invitation to Iran to attend the meeting. Do we all look happy? Mr Lavrov quipped as the three held hands for a Tuesday night photo opportunity. But when the conference opened on Wednesday the sharp differences re-emerged. Mr Kerry said it was unthinkable that Dr Assad could play a role in a transitional administration that would govern the country as part of a political settlement. The establishment of such a transitional body by "mutual consent" of the Assad government and the Syrian opposition is the major goal of the conference. "The right to lead a country does not come from torture, nor barrel bombs, nor Scud missiles," Mr Kerry said. And the only thing standing in its way is the stubborn clinging to power of one man, one family. But Mr Lavrov challenged the US insistence that Dr Assad be excluded from a possible transitional administration, arguing that the conference had to "refrain from any attempt to predetermine the outcome of the process." In Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other top officials expressed doubt that the Syria peace conference would produce results. The official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Dr Rouhani as saying he was "not optimistic about the conference due to the existing circumstances."