Syrian talks resume amid heavy fighting
GENEVA: The United Nations launched a new effort at Syrian peace talks in Geneva on Thursday, as heavy fighting between regime and rebel forces dampened hopes for any quick solution to end the war after nearly six years.
UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura started the talks by meeting delegations representing Syrian President Bashar al Assad and the opposition separately at the Swiss UN offices.
These are the first talks since negotiations broke down in April 2016 amid mounting violence on the ground.
De Mistura, a seasoned UN troubleshooter, wants both sides to discuss an inclusive transition government, a new constitution, and elections.
De Mistura said on Wednesday that he did not expect a breakthrough.
In Syria, the southern province of Daraa witnessed heavy fighting between regime forces and opposition rebels on Thursday, a monitoring group said.
The scope of the talks has been cut back to core political questions since last year, after an initiative by Russia, Turkey and Iran took thorny military issues off the Geneva agenda and assigned them to a separate process in the Kazakhstan’s Astana.
Pushing towards Raqqa, IS’s de facto capital in Syria, Turkey-backed rebels seized the centre of Al Bab, one of the militants’ strongholds, 30 km (20 miles) from the border.