Intra-Syrian talks to start as planned

The intra-Syrian talks originally scheduled for January 25 but delayed till Friday will go ahead as previously announced by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, a UN information officer said.

"All I can say about the talks is that they will start as planned as Staffan de Mistura announced," Xinhua quoted head of the UN information office in Geneva Ahmad Fawzi as saying.

However, he did not specify the time and location of the talks nor the details of the delegations.

Khawla Mattar, a spokeswoman for the Special Envoy for Syria, said that De Mistura would kick off the intra-Syrian talks by meeting the government's delegation headed by the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the UN, Bashar Jaafari.

She indicated "he will continue meetings with other participants in the talks and with representatives of the civil society subsequently."

Scheduled talks, which will strive to broker a lasting solution to the Syrian crisis that has been raging since 2011, will take place on a proximity basis, meaning that delegations will convene with the special envoy separately.