U.S., Russia to discuss Syria peace conference in Hague, source says

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. and Russian diplomats will meet in The Hague at the end of August to discuss preparations for the long-delayed Syria peace conference, a Russian diplomatic source told RIA Novosti on Monday, August 19, the news agency reported.

“The meeting will be held at the end of August in The Hague,” the source said, adding that the exact date is yet to be determined.

Moscow and Washington proposed in May to hold an international conference aimed at facilitating a solution through political dialogue to the Syrian crisis, in which at least 100,000 people have died since fighting broke out between government forces and rebels in March 2011.

The so-called Geneva-2 conference is designed to be a follow-up to last summer’s international meeting in Geneva that drafted a peace roadmap for Syria, including the establishment of a transitional government, with full executive powers and made up of members of Bashar Assad’s regime and the opposition groups.

Russia has repeatedly warned against further delaying the new conference on Syria as the peace terms set by the previous conference have never been implemented and the civil war continues to tear apart the once prosperous Arab nation.