Iran's Zarif Meets with UN's De Mistura in Munich
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is in Munich for an international meeting, has met and held talks with United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura.
Zarif met with the UN envoy on Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG).
The ISSG meeting, aimed at finding a solution to the nearly five years of conflict in Syria, started work in Munich on Thursday.
Diplomatic delegations from Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, the US as well as the Arab League, the European Union and the United Nations are attending the Munich talks.
A new report by the so-called Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR) has put the number of fatalities caused directly and indirectly by the foreign-backed militancy in Syria at 470,000.
The NGO says the figure is far higher than that of the UN - 260,000 - because the world body stopped collecting statistics 18 months ago.
The report also estimates that in all 11.5 percent of Syria’s population have been killed or injured since the crisis erupted in March 2011.
