UN-Arab League envoy arrives in Iran for Syria talks

TEHRAN – UN-Arab League Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi arrived in Tehran on Sunday for talks with Iranian officials about the ongoing civil war in Syria.

 

Brahimi is expected to discuss the latest developments in the war-torn country, a settlement to the crisis and delivering humanitarian aid to the Syrian people.

 

The first meeting is scheduled with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday before the latter’s departure for Vienna to attend a fresh round of talks with Western powers on Tehran’s nuclear program.

 

Brahimi will also meet the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani.

 

The Iranian foreign minister on Saturday reiterated Tehran’s support for a political solution to the Syrian civil war, which entered its fourth year this week, having so far claimed more than 100,000 lives as well as forcing millions of people to flee abroad.

 

Over three million Syrians have been internally displaced and 2.5 million others have sought refuge in neighboring countries since the conflict erupted in March 2011, according to the United Nations.

 

The fighting, which began as popular protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule, has raged for three years, coming as part of the wider North African and Middle Eastern ‘Arab Spring’.

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