Syria peace talks delayed till Feb 25

The UN envoy for Syria has announced a "temporary pause" in peace talks in Geneva.

The UN envoy for Syria has announced a "temporary pause" in peace talks in Geneva just two days after they officially began amid intensified fighting, saying the process will resume later this month.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with opposition leaders, Staffan de Mistura insisted "this is not the end, and it is not the failure of the talks."
De Mistura said both sides were "interested in having the political process started," and that he had set a new date of February 25 for the resumption of the talks.
The announcement comes just two days after de Mistura opened the first talks in two years aimed at ending a five-year war that has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced an estimated 11 million.
Syrian forces backed by Russian airstrikes have advanced in northern Syria in recent days, leading the opposition to accuse Damascus of negotiating in bad faith.
On Wednesday, the troops blasted their way into two Shi'ite villages in northern Syria, breaking a long-running rebel siege during a major offensive, Syrian TV reported.
The two villages, Nubl and Zahra, are located in the middle of opposition territory.
They have been blockaded by rebel groups for around three years, with the army occasionally airdropping food and other aid.
Their capture would mark a major victory for government forces, which have made significant advances in Aleppo province in the past few days, severing a key supply route linking rebels in Aleppo city to the Turkish border.
Pro-government forces are continuing an offensive north of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, in an attempt to besiege rebel-held neighbourhoods.
If the government succeeds, it will be one of the biggest blows to the insurgents since they captured large parts of the city in the summer of 2012.
The Aleppo advances cast a further shadow over the talks.
Basma Kodmani, a member of the opposition's negotiating team, described the offensive as a "horrible development," saying it sends the message that "there is nothing to negotiate. Just go home."
Syrian TV said the siege of Nubl and Zahra was broken by the army and Shi'ite militias known as the Popular Defence Committees.
The Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar TV also reported the advance and showed exclusive footage of the fighting on the outskirts of the villages.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that monitors the conflict through activists on the ground, said the Syrian army was one kilometre away from the two villages.
AP