Russia says Syria peace talks in Geneva pushed back
MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister said Friday the next round of Syrian peace talks in Geneva would be postponed until late February, as rebel factions continued to clash with al-Qaida-linked militants in northern Syria in some of the worst infighting in the past few years.
The U.N.-mediated talks in Switzerland, previously set for Feb. 8, will instead take place by the end of the month, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in opening a mini-summit in Moscow with state-approved representatives of the Syrian opposition.
He did not explain the postponement.
Rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad declined an invitation from Lavrov to meet in Moscow, raising doubts the meeting could offer something beyond another discussion panel on the nearly six-year-old conflict.