UN envoy to put forward proposals to end Syria crisis

Staffan de Mistura “intends to finalize by the end of July his proposals to the secretary-general [Ban Ki-moon] on a way forward to support Syrian parties in their search of a political solution to the conflict,” a UN spokesman said on Friday.
 
According to a UN statement released on the same day, De Mistura briefed Ban and several of his senior advisers about his plans during a visit to the UN headquarters in New York.
 
Earlier this week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov also said that the UN special envoy may visit Moscow in mid-July in order to provide his assessment of the current situation in Syria..
 
The development comes following the Western-backed Geneva I and Geneva II peace conferences on Syria, which were held in June 2012 and February 2014 respectively, failed to facilitate the settlement of the crisis in the Arab state.
 
The two events ended in failure after foreign-sponsored opposition figures in the talks refused to discuss widespread terrorism in the Arab country, calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
 
De Mistura, the Italian-Swedish diplomat, was appointed last July to take over as a mediator for the conflict in Syria, after two top-notch diplomats, Kofi Annan and Lakhdar Brahimi, quit the post following unsuccessful attempts to bring an end to the crisis.
 
Syria has been battling foreign-sponsored militancy since March 2011. The violence fueled by Takfiri terrorist groups has so far left over 230,000 people dead.
 
This is while the Western governments have contributed to the rise of terrorist groups operating against the Assad government.