DHAKA: The UN diplomat to Syria Staffan de Mistura has urged the US and Russia to urgently intrude ‘at the highest level’ to salvage talks.

Speaking after conference the UN Security Council on the wavering peace process, de Mistura said that a truce agreed in February was ‘barely alive’.

Violence in Syria has intensified in recent days, despite the ceasefire.
At least 20 civilians were reportedly killed on Wednesday in government strikes on a hospital and nearby residential building in eastern Aleppo, BBC reports on Thursday (April 28).

Civil defense volunteers, known as the White Helmets, told the media that the dead included children and the only pediatrician left in rebel-held areas of the city.

He said that over the past 48 hours an average of one Syrian had been killed every 25 minutes and one wounded every 13 minutes.

In order for the peace talks to succeed, de Mistura said, hostilities would need to be again reduced to the levels seen immediately following the February truce agreement.

His press briefing followed the third session of talks this year between the major actors in the conflict.

There will be one or two more rounds of talks before July, de Mistura said.

BDST: 1313 HRS, APR 28, 2016
SAS/RR