Nations meet in New York to end Syrian conflict

Some 20 foreign ministers have gathered in the US city of New York to discuss ending the Syrian conflict and push forward the peace process.

The ministers were meeting for the third time on Friday to push forward an earlier agreement to implement cease-fire agreement and start political talks on January 1, 2016.

"We need to make sure the political process is irreversible in the face of this severe threat posed by international terrorism," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said as he headed into the meeting at Palace Hotel.

Foreign ministers from 17 countries - including Russia's Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry and other European and Middle Eastern ministers, as well as top diplomats from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran, were in New York for the Syria meetings.

However, a breakthrough from this round of talks is not expected because many differences remain, including differences on terrorist groups.

Washington and Moscow are also at odds over the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The US stresses that Assad must leave power, while Russia backs him as an important part of a potential peace process, saying that the Syrian people must decide the future of Syria.

Earlier, the chief coordinator of opposition groups said they want a political transition without Assad.

Meanwhile, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council in New York were struggling to agree on a draft resolution endorsing an international bid to end the crisis in Syria.

Council diplomats said they aimed to clinch an agreement on a text.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011. The United States and its regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - have been supporting the terrorists operating inside Syria since the beginning of the crisis.

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