World powers meet for Syria peace talks preparation

Delegates arrived Monday morning for another meeting of the United Nations, Russia and the United States for further preparation for the long-delayed Syria peace talks, known as Geneva II. Senior officials attending the meeting include the Joint Special Representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, Russian Deputy Foreign Ministers Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman. The last preparation meeting among the three parties was held on Nov. 5. Geneva II is expected to bring Syrian government and opposition groups to the negotiating table to find a political solution to the more than 30-month conflict. Different from the Geneva I, which was held on June 30 last year, both the Syrians government and the opposition would be well represented at the current meeting, according to Brahimi.