Staffan de Mistura News

As talks on the crisis in Syria kicked off in Geneva, the UN Special Envoy for the war-torn country acknowledged he is not expecting a breakthrough but the proactive momentum needs to be sustained.

UN-brokered Syria peace talks restart in Geneva after a 10-month hiatus that has seen the opposition weakened and political upheaval in the foreign powers shaping the conflict.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN`s Syria envoy, has an experience in some of the world`s most troubled hotspots.

A convoy of around 20 buses crossed the front line in the early Monday morning headed for rebel-held territory elsewhere in northern Syria after around 350 people got out during the night.

At the start of that meeting the UN's top envoy to Syria accused the government of unleashing "unprecedented military violence" against civilians in Aleppo.

Syria`s peace talks hit a fresh impasse over President Bashar al-Assad Monday, as the head of Lebanon`s Hezbollah vowed his Shiite movement would keep fighting alongside the regime until Islamic State jihadists are defeated.

A week of Geneva peace talks on Syria has proved fruitless, a source close to the Damascus government said Saturday, blaming UN pressure to end the five-year war.

Agreeing on political transition in Syria is the "mother of all issues," the UN envoy for the war-ravaged country said Monday, as a new round of peace talks was to begin.

United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura met representatives of both delegations for "informal meetings" ahead of the negotiations.

The latest round of negotiations aimed at ending Syria`s war are to begin on Monday.

The United Nations announced aid convoys are being sent to besieged towns in Syria.

U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura will hold talks with Syria`s foreign minister on Tuesday during a surprise visit to Damascus, a Syrian government official told Reuters.

​De Mistura halted until Feb. 25 his attempts to conduct Syrian peace talks after the army, backed by Russian air strikes, advanced against rebel forces north of Aleppo on Wednesday, choking opposition supply lines from Turkey to the city.

De Mistura said he was asking for the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) of outside countries to convene "as soon as possible."

U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura announced the formal start on Monday of the first attempt in two years to negotiate an end to the war.

A Syrian military offensive backed by heavy Russian air strikes threatened to cut critical rebel supply lines into the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday while the warring sides said peace talks had not started despite a U.N. statement they had.

Syria`s main opposition group met formally Monday for the first time with UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura in Geneva for talks aimed at ending the country`s civil war, an AFP reporter said.

The United Nations today said it was waiting for regional powers spearheading the Syria peace process to agree on who will take part in talks starting in just one week's time and raised the possibility of a delay.

Saudi Arabia and Iran said on Sunday that an escalating dispute between the two countries would not affect international efforts to end the war in Syria, even as a large Syrian rebel group cast doubt on the United Nations -led peace process.