UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura plans to pay a visit to Tehran in the coming days to discuss ways of ending the ongoing conflict in Syria.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, de Mistura said the visit will take place before the resumption of indirect talks between Syrian sides, Tasnim News Agency reported.
The Syrian government and opposition plan to resume indirect talks on April 13. De Mistura said he would travel to Damascus and Tehran for talks and consult Turkish, Saudi, Jordanian and Lebanese officials as well on “political transition” in Syria before the resumption of indirect talks. The latest round of the UN-backed talks on Syria halted on March 24 following disagreements over the role of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in future. Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy for five years.
According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict in the Arab country has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people and displaced nearly half of its prewar population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.
