REPORT: UN chief says "very small window" for Syria peace talks

Activists said that the bodies of 10 men, most of them shot in the head, have been found on a road outside of the Syrian capital.                              

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the bodies were dumped on the road between the Damascus suburbs of Adra and Dumair. 
                                         
Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman noted on Friday that all of the bodies were of men who appeared to be between the ages of 30 and 45. He said one of the men had been decapitated.                                         

The identities of the men were not immediately identified.                                   

This as, a leading Syrian opposition figure visiting Moscow said on Friday that Russia and the United States could act as co-guarantors of a ceasefire in Syria.
                                                             
Manaf Tlass, a former elite army commander told the state-run Voice of Russia radio station that Russia could help achieve peace in Syria by backing moderate opposition forces.                                            

"In Syria there is a third party that doesn't support the regime or the extremists," Tlass said in response to Syrian government claims that Assad's fall would hand power to terrorists.                      

"Most Syrians don't want to choose between these two extremes, they want to go about their lives in a stable and secure state. And Russia could support moderate forces in Syria," he added.                            

Tlass, who held talks with senior Russian officials in Moscow, said he came as part of efforts to negotiate a peace settlement.          

Tlass added that he hoped Russia could "preserve Syria as a state, its unity, its complex structure with its ethnic and religious minorities, its infrastructure, and its secular nature."                


POSITIONS:          

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday there was a "very small window of opportunity" for the Syrian government and opposition to hold talks on ending the civil war.                 

Ban, at a news conference in Geneva, also said he would meet envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in Switzerland on Saturday for private talks on the nearly two-year-old crisis.             

"This is a very small window of opportunity which we strongly support and encourage them to use that. The opportunity may soon close," Ban said.


REUTERS/AP


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