The EU has appealed to both the United States and Russia to work with the rest of the international community to support Syria in order to create the right conditions to re-start peace talks to resolve the conflict in the country. The EU made the appeal at a same time as the Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy said that he was confident that Syrian peace negotiations would resume by the end of August despite the ongoing fighting in Aleppo. He pointed out that intense diplomatic efforts are being made in order to reach an agreement on a humanitarian truce in the Syrian city of Aleppo, and added that the United Nations hopes to reach an agreement on a comprehensive humanitarian plan in the next few days.

At the end of a weekly meeting of the Syria humanitarian taskforce, the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy told reporters in Geneva “There is still time, we cannot give up hope. Bear with us and I think in the next few days there might be some movement”.

Ramzi, who visited Damascus recently, added that “Intensive discussions are taking place” to resume negotiations that stopped a few months ago, and he was quoted by AFP as saying “the Russians and the Americans are discussing the fate of Syria” without explaining anything further.

When he was asked about the participation of the Syrian opposition in the talks, Ramzi said that “there will be no peace negotiations without the opposition, there is no doubt about this and we are holding discussions with them”. The High Negotiations Committee (HNC) brings together representatives of most opposition groups in Syria.