Iran FM meets with UN Syria envoy in Munich

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has met and held talks with United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura on the sidelines of the Munich forum on the Syrian crisis. 

Zarif met with the UN envoy on Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG).

Zarif also held separate talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as well as his Omani and Chinese counterparts.

He also sat down with Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Iyad Madani.

The Iranian minister is set to address the ISSG meeting which is to begin later on Tuesday.

The talks aim to find a solution to the nearly five years of conflict in Syria. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Lavrov host foreign ministers from the Syria contact group in the meeting.

Diplomatic delegations from Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, the US as well as the Arab League, the European Union and the United Nations are attending the Munich talks.

A new report by the so-called Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR) has put the number of fatalities caused directly and indirectly by the foreign-backed militancy in Syria at 470,000.

The NGO says the figure is far higher than that of the UN - 260,000 - because the world body stopped collecting statistics 18 months ago.

The report also estimates that in all 11.5 percent of Syria’s population have been killed or injured since the crisis erupted in March 2011.

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