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New round of intra-Syrian talks kicks off in Geneva

10 July 2017 [17:46] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews


By Kamila Aliyeva

The seventh round of intra-Syrian talks under the auspices of the UN kicked off in the Swiss city of Geneva on July 10 with the meeting between UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and Syrian governmental delegation led by Bashar Jaafari.

The meeting comes amid a new ceasefire in Syria, announced by the U.S and Russia on July 7.

The agenda of the meeting includes the four so-called "baskets" that is a new constitution, governance, elections and combating terrorism.

Earlier, the UN Special Envoy urged not to have inflated expectations from the outcome of the current round of talks.

"We are going to work very hard. Let’s talk later in the afternoon," de Mistura told TASS upon arriving in the UN headquarters.

Six previous rounds of United Nations-backed talks have ended with little progress towards ending the war.

In parallel, Syria’s warring sides have also attended five rounds of peace talks brokered by Iran, Russia and Turkey in the Kazakh capital, Astana. The Astana talks have resulted in a memorandum of understanding on creation of de-escalation zones in Syria.

The civil war in Syria between government and opposition with various terrorist groups involved, including Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), began back in March 2011.

Syrian President Bashar Assad managed to turn the tide of war in his favor after Russia started an air campaign in September 2015, while Iran is an uncompromising supporter of the Syrian leader.

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.


URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/163041.html

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