Clinton and Russia's Lavrov to hold talks with UN peace envoy to Syria

MOSCOW - Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gestures to U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi (L) during the 67th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York September 25, 2012. REUTERS photo

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet international Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi in Dublin on Thursday to try to put a U.N. peace process for Syria back on track, diplomatic sources said.
 
The talks come ahead of a meeting of the Western-backed "Friends of Syria" group in Marrakech next week which is expected to boost support for rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
 
"They will speak about a plan (or) common understanding on how to move forward," one source said of Thursday's meeting, which will take place on the sidelines of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) gathering.
 
A senior U.S. State Department official confirmed the meeting had been organised for Thursday afternoon.
 
Brahimi has called for world powers to issue a U.N. Security Council resolution based on a June deal they reached in Geneva to set up a transitional government in a bid to end the bloodshed in Syria.
 
The Geneva Declaration, which was agreed when Kofi Annan was still international mediator, called for a transitional administration but did not specify what role, if any, Assad would have.