THE chief negotiator for Saudi-backed militants in Syria quit yesterday, claiming there had been no progress in the stalled Geneva peace talks.

High Negotiations Committee (HNC) representative Mohammed Alloush said he took the step because the “international community” was not “serious” about reaching a deal to end the country’s five-year civil war.

He described his resignation as a “protest against the international community,” which he hoped would come to realise “the importance of the Syrian blood that is being shed by the regime and its allies.”