GENEVA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, said Thursday that an important development had taken place over the past few days regarding the political process of the Syria issue -- a meeting in Riyadh between various oppositions.
In a press briefing here on Thursday, Ramzy said that a more unified opposition delegation might appear so as to better facilitate the upcoming new round of peace talks in Geneva.
"It is important because based on our assessment of what has happened in Riyadh, we will decide as to how to move ahead in the future," he said.
Another important development is "the establishment yesterday in Amman of a monitoring center which includes the United States, the Russian Federation, and Jordan", he said.
"We hope this center will contribute to the speedy stabilization of the de-escalation zone in the south-west of Syria," he noted.
He also confirmed to reporters that the Astana, Kazakhstan talks on Syria previously scheduled for Sept. 6 and 7 had been postponed to the middle of the month for logistical reasons.
As for the next round of the Geneva talks on Syria, the UN official said that once they had a full picture as to what happened in Riyadh, they would hold further consultations with the interested parties. On the basis of that, a decision would be taken as to when the talks would take place.
UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said Aug. 17 that he may sponsor a "preparatory" round of peace talks on Syria in Geneva next month, but the "real substantive" talks would be scheduled for October.
