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.”

Mr Alloush is a leading member of the Army of Islam extremist group, which, along with Ahrar ash-Sham, is one of the HNC’s two dominant factions. The HNC has stormed out of the indirect “proximity” talks twice this year.

The Syrian army and its Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian allies have made gains in the Army of Islam’s stronghold of Ghouta, just east of Damascus, in recent weeks.

Russia has pressed the US over Ahrar ash-Sham’s repeated violations of the ceasefire negotiated between the two powers in February, as well as its ongoing alliance with al-Qaida affiliate the Nusra Front and atrocities against civilians.

Meanwhile, Turkey, another major backer of proxy forces in Syria, sent confused messages about US support for the Kurdish YPG militia.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu suggested on Sunday night that Ankara could aid the YPG’s advance on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa.

But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier condemned the US, Russian and Iranian interventions and the two major powers’ unwillingness to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.