Russia agrees to Syrian peace talks with UN

HOPES were raised of a breakthrough in the Syrian crisis yesterday after Russia said it plans to hold talks with United States and United Nations officials in Geneva next week.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said discussions were aimed at kick-starting moves to bring peace to the war-torn country.

He said Moscow was waiting for confirmation from Washington that the meeting would take place.

If the meeting does go ahead, the talks, scheduled for April 24, will be the first such contact since Donald Trump became president. UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has reportedly agreed to attend.

The development comes days after President Trump revealed his hopes of a fresh dialogue with Russia.

He declared on Twitter: “Things will work out fine between the USA and Russia. At the right time everyone will come to their senses and there will be lasting peace.”

Tensions in the region reached boiling point after the US blasted a Syrian air base with a barrage of cruise missiles.

The raid was launched in response to a nerve gas attack which claimed the lives of 87 people which was attributed to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The US blamed Russian inaction for the chemical attack, while Russia and Iran warned America they would retaliate with military force if there were further attacks on Syria.

Meanwhile, Islamic State fighters were last night engaged in fierce street battles with Iraqi troops in Mosul from where the terror group declared a “caliphate” in 2014.

A spokesman for the Iraqi military said its forces had gained swathes of ground in the US-backed offensive to capture IS’s de facto capital.

The spokesman said federal police forces were “engaged in difficult, house-to-house clashes with Daesh (IS) fighters inside the Old City”.

Heavy exchanges of gunfire and mortar rounds could be heard from neighbourhoods facing the Old City across the River Tigris which divides Mosul into western and eastern sides.