Syrian chief delegate Bashar al-Jaafari, left, with Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov, to his left, on Sunday ahead of peace talks. Story highlights Opposition armed groups say no direct talks with governmentBoth sides accuse each other of ceasefire violationsAstana, Kazakhstan (CNN) Syria peace talks in the Kazakhstan capital, Astana, got off to an explosive start Monday as rebel groups announced they would not talk face to face with the regime and the chief Syrian delegate slammed the armed opposition as "terrorists. UN-brokered talks are scheduled to take place in Geneva on February 8. The talks will be with the United Nations if the ceasefire is not implemented, particularly in Wadi Barada ... in the Damascus countryside, and the areas that the regime targets daily," armed opposition Issam al-Reis said. "There are no direct negotiations, first of all.

The order temporarily suspends the United States` main refugee program and halts visas being issued to citizens of several predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq. "Mr. Trump, the new president, killed our dreams," said one Baghdad man whose wife worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as a bookkeeper. He helped two of the interpreters come to the United States as refugees with their families, putting them up initially in his home in Dallas, Texas. Iraqis coming to the United States under the Special Immigrant Visa program for Iraqis, which stopped accepting new applications in 2014, or the ongoing Direct Access Program for U.S.-Affiliated Iraqis are losing hope of ever getting out. Another 58,000 Iraqis were awaiting interviews under the Direct Access program, according to the International Refugee Assistance Project.

Groups that support curbing immigration applauded the order, highlighting that it made good on the president?s campaign... President Donald Trump?s order to temporarily suspend the U.S. refugee program and nationals from several majority-Muslim countries, as well as to indefinitely ban the entry of Syrian refugees, drew fierce condemnation from civil-rights organizations and leaders of faith-based groups charged with absorbing refugees.