The U.N. special envoy for Syria announced a temporary suspension of peace talks on Wednesday, less than a week after representatives from Damascus and the opposition gathered in Geneva to negotiate a settlement to the country’s five-year-long civil war. “This is not the end and not the failure for the talks,” said the envoy, Staffan de Mistura. “They both came and they both stayed — and both sides insisted on a political process.” De Mistura set Feb. 25 as the date for resuming the so-called Geneva III conference, which appeared to flounder after reports of increased violence in Syria. At Geneva talks, Syrian opposition sees little to gain and much to lose De Mistura met with Syria’s primary opposition bloc, the Higher Negotiations Committee (HNC), on Monday and Wednesday. He met with delegates from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government on Tuesday. The meetings in Switzerland are part of a […]