Deadlocked Syria talks may end up as failure

Syria peace talks headed into a third day on Wednesday after sparking warnings of failure, but the evacuation of civilians from besieged rebel-held areas of the city of Homs was set to resume. Little progress towards breaking the deadlock was apparent yesterday, despite appeals from UN-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi to end the ‘nightmare’ of the Syrian people. The veteran peacemaker was downbeat after a three-hour session in Geneva on Tuesday marking the first face-to-face talks between Syria’s rival camps this month.

‘The beginning of this week is as laborious as it was the first week,’ Brahimi told reporters.