UN Syria talks end with no breakthrough

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The UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said a seventh round of peace talks on Friday in Geneva ended without breakthrough.

"We have made, as we were expecting and hoping, incremental progress. No breakthrough, no breakdown, no one walking out," the UN envoy told the media in a briefing after the latest round of talks.

The talks had focused on four areas: governance, constitutional issues, electoral issues and counter-terrorism.

Syrian envoy to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari, the leading negotiator of the Assad government, said his side wanted to emphasize counter-terrorism along with "technical, legal and constitutional discussions," adding his team has not been asked to meet directly with the opposition.

Damaged buildings in Deraa, Syria, July 13./VCG Photo

The opposition groups insist that the talks focus on political transition. However, de Mistura said he did not see any indication that Assad’s team would address such issues.

The UN envoy also announced that the next round of talks will take place in early September.

Speaking to journalists, de Mistura said a unified group formed by three participating opposition groups – the High Negotiations Committee, the Moscow platform and the Cairo platform – is expected before direct talks between the government and the opposition.

In an international attempt, the UN mediator hoped that future meetings would be able "to actually push all sides to finally sit in the same room and start talking about substance.”

The talks came after a partial agreement on de-escalation zones in Syria reached by Iran, Russia and Turkey, as well as the first face-to-face meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany.

Talks including representatives from Iran, Russia and Turkey in Kazakhstan's capital Astana are slated for late August. The last round of Astana talks also failed to produce any solid outcome, with all sides failing to agree on issues surrounding the boundaries and policing of four safe zones in Syria.

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