UN envoy calls for new round of Syria talks

The UN’s top envoy for Syria announced on Wednesday that new talks between Syria’s government and Opposition will take place “in about a month” and said this eighth round must finally move to “genuine negotiations on the political future” of the war-ravaged country. Staffan de Mistura told the UN Security Council that both sides should use the coming month to create conditions for the talks in Geneva “to be meaningful”, and to participate “without preconditions”.

With the civil war now waging for over six-and-a-half years, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies have taken control of the country’s four largest cities and its Mediterranean coast.

Backed by Russian air power and Iranian-sponsored militias, pro-government forces have marched across energy-rich Homs province and were fighting Wednesday on the east bank of the Euphrates.

Breaking the siege

Mr. de Mistura told the council that fighters for the Islamic State (IS) are “being beaten back”. He pointed to the breaking of a three-year siege of Deir el-Zor city by IS, and the U.S.-led international coalition taking control of most of the city of Raqqa, once the de facto capital of the militant group’s self-styled caliphate.

These zones should be a precursor “to a truly nationwide cease-fire” and action to provide humanitarian aid to all in need, he said. Talks in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana “should be seen as laying the basis for a renewed Geneva process”, he added.

Mr. de Mistura called on both Syria’s government and Opposition to use the weeks before the next talks “to assess the situation with realism and responsibility”.

Mr. de Mistura said both sides should show readiness to negotiate on four key issues — “credible” and “inclusive” local and central governance; a schedule and process for drafting a new constitution; UN-supervised elections; and combating terrorism.