VIENNA: The UN 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 days in negotiations in Vienna come after eight previous rounds in Geneva, the last one in December that failed to get the different parties even to talk to each other. 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”. The Vienna talks come ahead of a “Congress of National Dialogue” peace conference in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi backed by Russia, Iran and Turkey on January 30. The three key regional players have been sponsoring parallel peace talks since the start of last year that have looked to still the fighting.

Source: Pakistan Today January 25, 2018 06:33 UTC