U.S. official: U.N., Washington, Moscow to meet on Syria next month

The U.N. Special Representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, will meet U.S. and Russian officials in Switzerland next month to try to prepare the way for a full Syria peace conference in Geneva, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.

The trilateral meeting will be held in Geneva on Nov. 5 with the U.S. delegation expected to include Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, Reuters reported the State Department official as saying.

“We look forward to continuing this trilateral dialogue and reviewing progress towards convening the Geneva Conference on Syria,” the official said.

Since May, Washington and Moscow have been trying to organize Geneva II peace talks to end the 31-month Syrian conflict diplomatically but so far there is no agreed deadline.

The Syrian opposition said its main prerequisite to participate in the proposed international conference was if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to resign, a condition that has long been rejected by Damascus.

Previously, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi declared expected time for Geneva II would be Nov. 23, 2013 but Brahimi, denied that any date has been set.

(With Reuters)