In a briefing to the United Nations (UN) Security Council on developments and their plans for the next round of the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, Staffan De Mistura announced his intention to convene round 8 of the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva on the 28 of November.

According to De Mistura, “Specifically, we should focus in my opinion in round 8 on two main points: one, the schedule and process to draft a new constitution; and two (and not necessarily in that order), the precise requirements for UN supervised elections as per 2254. Negotiations should all be informed by the overall framework of course of resolution 2254 – I said it already – and by the living 12 essential principles. I am ready to put on that occasion some initial thoughts to the parties as a starting point for serious negotiations.”

All the 7 rounds in the Geneva talks held under the lead of the United Nations to develop a “political solution” to the civil war in Syria have ended in failure. The last meeting was on July 14.