US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) talks to Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal (2-L) as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (R) walks past prior to the so-called Geneva II peace talks on Syria, in Montreux, Switzerland, 22 January 2014. The talks brought representatives of the al-Assad regime and the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition together under the same roof for the first time since the conflict started some three years ago. EPA/ARND WIEGMANN / POOL