The European Union's foreign policy chief held a rare meeting with a top Syrian official to help achieve a political transition in the country where the Islamic State group holds vast territory.
Federica Mogherini yesterday said she only discussed "support to the UN-led process" in the talks with Bashar Ja'afari in Geneva aimed at ending the Syrian civil war. The war has led to a refugee crisis in Europe and given an opening to IS.
"Not all exchanges were consensual," Mogherini said, adding that she didn't discuss the terrorism fight or a possible end to EU sanctions against Syrian officials. She declined to reiterate the EU's previous insistence that Syrian President Bashar Assad leave power, but said its policy hadn't changed.
Ja'afari, the Syrian government's UN ambassador, said afterward that it was his first meeting with Mogherini. He said the Brussels attacks had "opened the eyes of the Europeans for the necessity of reading the map again carefully, and giving priority to countering terrorism."
Mogherini came to Geneva following an invitation from UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is hosting the peace talks, now in their second week.
The indirect talks between government and opposition representatives are expected to take a break today, before resuming next month.
De Mistura said: "The message that Federica and I are giving is ... Terrorism is a priority, but the priority of the priorities is that to win the terrorism, you have to find a political solution in Syria. So the ball goes back to those who have been complaining about terrorism, and saying, 'What about all of you helping us to solve politically the crisis in Syria?'"
"And you will see that suddenly we will all be able to focus on Daesh, and by doing so, helping both Syria and Europe," he added, using an alternative acronym for IS.
