UN envoy sets Syria peace talks target date for January 25

The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Saturday voiced his hope that he can bring representatives of the Syrian government and opposition together to launch the intra-Syria peace talks in Geneva on January 25.

De Mistura, in a statement issued by his spokesperson in Geneva, said that January 25 is "a target date" and he "has intensified efforts" towards the Syria peace talks to seek a political solution to the Syria crisis, which broke out in March 2011 and reportedly left more than 300,000 people dead, Xinhua reported.

The UN special envoy also hoped the proposed Syria peace talks could include "the broadest possible spectrum of the Syrian opposition and others" in a bid to "engage in a political process leading towards implementation of the objectives and principles for a political solution to the Syrian conflict as contained in the Geneva Communique of June 30, 2012, and the Vienna Statements of October 30 and November 14, 2015" and the resolution unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council on December 18, the statement said.

The latest council resolution on Syria endorsed an international roadmap for a Syrian-led political transition in order to end the country's conflict, which calls for Syrian peace talks to begin in early January.