UN hosts 'last hope' Syria peace talks in Vienna

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The United Nations will make a fresh push from Thursday to jump-start Syrian peace talks, as violence continues to rage in a seven-year-old war that has killed more than 340,000 people.

The two-day negotiations in Vienna come after eight previous rounds in Geneva, the last one in December, which have failed to get the different parties even to talk to each other.

Delegations take part in peace talks on Syria in Astana, Kazakhstan, December 22, 2017. /VCG Photo

They stumbled over the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has taken the upper hand in the conflict since Russia began backing him militarily in 2015.

Representatives from Assad's government have refused to meet the opposition directly until they drop demands of his resignation.

The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has said that the negotiations in Vienna involving "full delegations" of the opposition and government come at a "very, very critical moment".

Nasr al-Hariri from the main opposition group, the Syrian Negotiations Commission (SNC), said that the next two days would be "a real test for all the sides".

Representative of the Syrian opposition groups, Nasr al-Hariri, addresses a press conference in Vienna, on January 24, 2018. /VCG Photo

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said meanwhile in Paris that the talks are the "last hope" for reaching a political solution.

Le Drian also highlighted a "considerable worsening of the humanitarian situation" in Afrin, as well as in Idlib and Eastern Ghouta.

In the Afrin enclave in northern Syria, Turkey on Saturday launched an offensive with Syrian rebels to oust the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

"Until the last terrorist is neutralized, this operation will continue," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

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Source(s): AFP