GENEVA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, opened a new round of indirect talks on Monday between representatives of the Syrian government and opposition leaders, which he said was aimed at simplifying peace negotiations to wind down the seven-year civil war.
"We are not expecting a breakthrough, but some incremental development," de Mistura told journalists after he met with the Syrian government delegation headed by Syrian Ambassador to the UN, Bashar Jaafari, for bilateral talks.
Later in the day, he said he also met opposition leaders and representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- China, France, Russia, the United States and Britain -- saying he received "strong support".
The meeting with opponents of the Syrian government was a "working luncheon at which the oppositions were all together", and in which de Mistura said the aim was to arrive at "an opposition common position".
The start of the talks in Geneva, the seventh so far, came on the first full day of a ceasefire for southern Syria brokered last week by the United States, Russia, and Jordan which could provide a better atmosphere for peace negotiations.
The UN envoy said he considered the ceasefire, fleshed out at the G20 meeting in Hamburg on July 7 and 8, to be a significant step forward in the conflict.
"The devil is in the details, but we believe it has a strong chance of being implemented, after long and intense preparations," said de Mistura.
