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Wednesday, November 11, 2026Nov 11

UN envoy to Syria: Peace talks not set to resume for weeks

Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria, speaks during a news conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, May 26, 2016. De Mistura says he’ll speak to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday and announce afterward plans for a resumption of stalled peace talks between the government and the opposition. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria, speaks during a news conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, May 26, 2016. De Mistura says he’ll speak to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday and announce afterward plans for a resumption of stalled peace talks between the government and the opposition. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP) Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria, speaks during a news conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, May 26, 2016. De Mistura says he’ll speak to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday and announce afterward plans for a resumption of stalled peace talks between the government and the opposition. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

GENEVA (AP) – The U.N. envoy for Syria says he’s hoping for a resumption of peace talks “as soon as feasible” but has set no new date and expects that it will “certainly not” be within the next two to three weeks.

The office of Staffan de Mistura issued a statement after he briefed the U.N. Security Council on the situation in Syria by video conference from Geneva.

A statement late Thursday said “de Mistura reiterated the need to see progress on the ground – particularly in reference to the cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access.”

The lack of a solid date for the resumption of the stalled peace talks testifies to continued violence in Syria and difficulties for the U.N.-led effort to ship humanitarian aid to beleaguered Syrians.