Fresh Syria peace talks to start in a month: UN envoy

By Canberk Yuksel

NEW YORK

An eighth round of Syrian peace talks is expected to be launched in a month, UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura said Wednesday.

The negotiations will kick off no later than early November, de Mistura told a UN Security Council meeting in New York.

"I wish to confirm today my intention to convene the eighth round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva in about a month from now -- the precise date is to be determined," he said. "It should be no later than the end of October or very early in November."

De Mistura called on both sides to "assess the situation with realism" and participate in the talks "without any preconditions".

He said Daesh terror group was "being beaten back" by a U.S.-led international coalition, while warning that the four de-escalation zones created in eastern Ghouta, north of Homs, and in Idlib province "must not lead to a soft partition of Syria".

U.S. envoy to the UN Nikki Haley said a political transition was indispensable for peace, but it must be "one that does not allow Iranian influence to replace ISIS or Assad in power".

ISIS is short for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or Daesh.

A seventh round in July and a sixth in May ended without any breakthroughs in the almost six-and-a-half-year conflict.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests. Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed and in excess of 10 million displaced, according to the UN.