UN envoy in Geneva for Syria talks

Describing the Syrian civil war as the biggest humanitarian crisis since World War II, the UN's special envoy for talks on Syria today said he hoped that the Geneva-III dialogue here would be more successful as new elements have entered the geography of the conflict.
"This should not become like 2014 that all appealed but nothing happened - the issue should not fall in the backburner," Staffan de Mistura said.
De Mistura has proposed "a freeze of heavy fighting in Aleppo, and eventually the return for a united, reconstructed Syrian city" in the UN-led Geneva-III talks.
Responding to why he is proposing Aleppo first as the site for a ceasefire of fighting, the UN representative said that Aleppo is a "symbolic microcosm" of what is happening and also because it has the highest number of refugees.

It is also just 20 miles away from a territory held by the Islamic State (IS) terror group. It will "signal the beginning of a political process and goodwill," he said.
Flashing a map of the territories presently occupied by the IS, de Mistura said that there is a new sense of urgency because the terrorist group now occupies one-third of Syria.

"I am finding a connection with the origins and consequences of the Syrian conflict with the Paris attacks," he added.
He said that "no one wants to stop first" so there should just be a freeze, "no more sophistication than that".

However, the territory between Aleppo and IS is controlled by the al-Nusra Front, a regional branch of the al-Qaeda.
Mistura met Syrian president Bashar al-Assad whom he has met twice and looks "very concerned" especially with the growing threat of Al-Nusra in the north and the south.
He said the American-led coalition entering Syria is an important element of difference of the Geneva-III talks from the Geneva-II.
De Mistura said that he has been intensely talking to "all possible factions" and also international interlocutors in Paris.
He met US Secretary of State, John Kerry, who was in Geneva to hold nuclear talks with the Iranians. Kerry had "appreciated" Mistura's efforts.

Referring to other international negotiations ongoing for the Syrian crisis, the UN envoy said that "the Cairo potential meetings and indeed Moscow initiative are both seen favourably by us because any initiative that brings together Syrian people can facilitate a dialogue".