UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has urged the warring sides who met face-to-face in peace talks on Thursday for the first time in three years to end the almost six-year conflict.
"The Syrian people desperately want an end to this conflict and you all know it. You are the first ones to tell us it," de Mistura told both delegations in the UN assembly hall in Geneva. The talks are taking place with the participation of representatives from the International Syria Support Group, which includes Turkey, the U.S., Russia and Iran.
"They are waiting for a relief from their own suffering and dream of a new road out of this nightmare to a real and normal future in dignity," de Mistura added. "l am not expecting miracles. We face an uphill task. It will not be easy as there is a lot of tension and there is a lot of suffering that everyone is bearing. We must apply to ourselves to this task," de Mistura said.
The fourth round of the intra-Syrian talks began in Geneva on Thursday, marking the first time the Syrian regime and opposition delegations have returned to the Swiss city since talks were suspended last April. At those talks, de Mistura had to meet separately with the opposing delegations.
At the first day of this round of talks, de Mistura met separately with the delegation of the Syrian regime, headed by Bashar al-Ja'aafari and the delegation of Syrian opposition, headed by Nasr Hariri, a senior member of the largest opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition.