The UN's Syria envoy met rival negotiators gathered for peace talks in Geneva on Thursday, but even getting them into the same room appeared uncertain as hopes remained slim for a breakthrough. Persistent violence and deadlock over Syria's political future are clouding the start of "Geneva 4," the fourth round of UN-sponsored talks on the conflict which has killed more than 310,000 people since 2011.
The latest diplomatic push comes as Turkish-backed Syrian rebels announced they had taken full control of Al-Bab from the Islamic State group, marking a key defeat for the jihadists after weeks of heavy fighting. But progress on the battlefield means little for the opposition delegation in Geneva, where the talks are not about the fight against IS, which is excluded from the latest cease-fire.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura had already warned that he was not expecting a breakthrough in the first peace talks since April 2016. On Thursday, he held separate meetings with the regime and opposition delegates, notably to discuss the agenda and the format for negotiations proper.
Mistura said he hoped to bring them together later in the day, but a tentatively-planned afternoon event was delayed amid disagreement over arrangements. After the initial bilateral talks with De Mistura Thursday, an opposition source said the UN envoy was understood to want a "round-table" with all the parties. But the opposition is divided between the main umbrella High Negotiations Committee (HNC) - which wants direct negotiations with the regime - and delegations from Cairo and Moscow. "This is not accepted at all since it means all parties are equal and will turn to be exchanging points of view and not negotiating," the opposition source told AFP.