UN announces ‘temporary pause’ in Syria peace talks

“Could there be such peace talks?”.

“I have indicated from the very first day that I will not talk for the sake of talking”.

Opposition negotiation spokesman Riad Hijab blames the Syrian government for the lack of progress at the United Nations talks.

He had been reassured by both sides that these measures will be implemented during the talks. I’ve therefore taken this decision to bring a temporary pause: “it is not the end and is not the failure of the talks”. “When you have a five year war and had so many hard moments you have to be determined, but also realistic”.

The talks struggled to get off the ground last week, and were delayed by disagreements over the makeup of groups that should be represented. “It is not the end or the failure of the talks”. -*Bashar al-Jaafari, Head of Syrian Delegation*. “Nothing happened on the humanitarian front and the regime caused the political process to fail”. “Based on that we can come back to the negotiating table”.

Markov, a former lawmaker in President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which publicly support the Syrian opposition, must understand over time they “will have to go to negotiation”.

The Observatory said the regime’s gains were the most significant development in Aleppo province since 2012. They have been blockaded by rebel groups for around three years, with the army occasionally airdropping food and other assistance.

Homs and Aleppo are two major Syrian cities that have been epicenters in for factions fighting in the now 5-year-old civil war.

“The level of confidence between both sides is close to zero”, de Mistura told the BBC late on Tuesday. He had scheduled the talks to last six months.

Lu said the recommencement of peace talks is the first step.

“Who is bombing civilians and starving people to death”.

Western powers expressed support for de Mistura and sharply criticized Assad and Russian Federation.

In the footage, fighters and residents waved the Syrian and Hezbollah flags, and some chanted pro-regime slogans, including “God, Syria, Bashar and nothing else”, in reference to Syrian president Bashar al Assad.

Fabius on Thursday accused Assad’s government and his Russian allies of “torpedoing the peace efforts” by launching an offensive against the country’s second city, Aleppo, and said that countries attending the donors’ conference would hold “in-depth consultations” on the question.

A member of the Syrian pro-government forces looks at smoke billowing from an Islamic State group position following an air strike in the Hatabat al-Bab area, near town of Al-Bab in Aleppo’s eastern countryside, on January 24, 2016. Russian Federation is bombarding schools, hospitals – not Daesh positions but only moderate opposition and civilians.

De Mistura has shuttled between the government and opposition delegations in Geneva.