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UN envoy to Syria arrives in Damascus for talks

Xinhua, June 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

United Nations Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, arrived in here Monday for meetings on his extended talks in Geneva and other humanitarian issues.

Coming from Beirut, Lebanon, Mistura is scheduled to meet with top Syrian officials during his three-day stay, in which he will explain why the Geneva talks, previously set to end in June, was delayed to July, according to local media.

In May, Mistura began one-on-one discussions in Geneva with Syrian delegations, including government officials, opposition parties, and representatives of some other countries in the region, which have influence in the course of Syrian conflict.

The UN envoy's visit came amid rumors that Mistura had asked Washington to exert military pressure on Damascus for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Al-Watan, a Syrian daily newspaper close to the government, said on Monday that Mistura might use the visit to address the rumors.

Even though the rumors were not confirmed, the paper said, Mistura has not denied them yet, but he "decided to come to Damascus to meet with the president to inform him about the course of the Geneva discussions and probably to present clarifications about the rumors." Endit