Syria Talks in Geneva Postponed until February End
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - UN-hosted negotiations on the Syrian conflict planned for February 8 in Geneva have been postponed until the end of that month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.
"The date of February 8 has been put back until the end of next month," Lavrov told a meeting with minor Syrian opposition representatives in Moscow to discuss peace talks in Kazakhstan that ended on Tuesday without a major breakthrough.
There was no confirmation from the United Nations on the latest plans for the next round of talks between the Syrian regime and opposition, AFP reported.
The main opposition groups stayed away from the Moscow meeting with Lavrov.
Representatives from armed opposition groups and Damascus were expected to hold their first face-to-face talks in Astana, but the rebels refused over allegations of the government’s violation of truce and mediators were forced to shuttle between the two sides.
Key players Russia, Iran and Turkey backed the talks and the main result was an agreement by the three sides to try to shore up a ceasefire on the ground in the war-torn country.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups currently controlling parts of it.
According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.
