The Syrian National Council which was part of the Syrian National Coalition withdrew from the coalition on 20 January 2014 in protest at the decision of the latter to attend the Geneva talks.
On 22 January, in reaction to the UN Secretary General's withdrawal of the invitation to his country to participate in the conference, Iranian President Hasan Rouhani stated that the "lack of influential players" attending meant that he doubted the ability of Geneva II to solve the crisis