The UN’s Syria envoy said he was “very, very sorry” on Saturday as peace talks in Geneva broke off with no progress made and no date set for a third round. Just weeks after the warring parties sat down for the first time to seek a political settlement to the three-year conflict, a second round ended in acrimony. “I’m very, very sorry,” UN mediator lakhdar Brahimi told reporters in Geneva as he announced the break-off in talks.
“I think it is better that every side goes back and reflects, and takes their responsibility: do they want this process to continue or notIJ” With no guarantee the parties will return to the negotiating table, the death toll continued to mount in Syria where more than 136,000 have died and millions have been driven from their homes.A monitoring group said this week more than 5,000 people had been killed since the talks began on January 22. And the UN raised the alarm over Syrian air raids in the Qalamun mountains near the lebanese border, as thousands fled the opposition-held town of Yabrud amid fears of a ground assault.In Geneva, the rivals have seemed to agree on only one thing this week: that the negotiations were stalled. “The regime is not serious... I’m very sorry to say there is nothing positive we can take from this,” Opposition spokesman louay Safi told reporters.