Diplomats fail to agree on date for new Syria peace talks in Geneva

The United Nations’ top Syria envoy has said that diplomats had failed to agree on a date for new peace talks.

Speaking at a news conference in Geneva, Lakhdar Brahimi said diplomats “are still striving to see if we can have the conference before the end of the year”.

After talks that lasted all day, President Bashar al-Assad’s entrenched government indicated it was not ready to negotiate handing over power, while his main ally Russia insisted, once again, that pro-Assad Iran must be part of any talks.

The death toll in the civil war officially passed 100,000 more than three months ago.

AP