World powers prepare for Syria peace talks

GENEVA - Delegates from the United Nations, Russia and the United States arrived here Tuesday for a trilateral meeting to prepare for the long-delayed peace talks on Syria.

Participants include UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, Russian Deputy Foreign Ministers Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman.

Following the meeting, talks will be held in the afternoon with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and Syria's neighbors - Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey - will be involved in another session later in the day.

The meetings came after Brahimi toured the Middle East seeking support for the international conference on Syria, dubbed "Geneva II" and initiated by Russia and the United States in early May.

No final date has been set for Geneva II, which is intended to bring the Syrian government and opposition groups to the negotiating table to find a political solution to the more than 30-month conflict.

During Brahimi's visit, the Syrian government agreed to attend the conference but the deeply fractured Syrian opposition groups were split on whether to attend.

Brahimi said the conference would not take place unless the opposition took part.