New round of Syrian peace talks begins in Switzerland

GENEVA — The eighth round of Syria peace talks got underway Tuesday with a revamped and expanded opposition team meeting with the U.N. envoy in Geneva, but President Bashar Assad’s government was conspicuously absent and Russia bemoaned back-channel diplomacy among key world powers.

The government in Damascus said its team would show up Wednesday.

The meeting marks the latest and perhaps most promising attempt by U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura to jolt new life into the so-far largely ineffective U.n.-mediated talks. The Syrian civil war, now in its seventh year, has left over 400,000 dead, driven at least 11 million people from their homes, and turned into a proxy war for regional and world powers.

Speaking after he briefed key envoys from the five U.N Security Council member countries behind closed doors, de Mistura confirmed to The Associated Press that the Syrian government had agreed to come Wednesday — after Damascus had reportedly delayed its initial participation.

The pro-government newspaper Al-watan on Monday reported that Damascus would postpone its arrival, citing the opposition’s position that Assad must leave at the start of any political transition — something that is sought under a key U.N. Security Council resolution underpinning the Geneva talks.

De Mistura justified the discreet “P5” meeting by saying it was needed to keep Britain, China France, Russia and the United States informed about his agenda and reinforce the U.n.-mediated peace process, which has come under a challenge from a separate, Russian initiative.

“Now we need to go into business,” de Mistura told the AP.