Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Jafari will head the government team in peace talks due to open in Moscow on Monday, a Syrian newspaper announced.

The Al-Watan reported that the Syrian delegation will not join the talks until Wednesday, after two days of preliminary discussions among opposition participants.

Ahmed Arnus, a top adviser of Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, will be among six other members of the delegation.

"Opposition figures will meet together from Monday before the Syrian Arab Republic delegation joins them on Wednesday," the paper said.

"It is a consultative meeting to prepare the ground for a dialogue which will be held later in Moscow or Damascus."

Members of opposition groups tolerated by the Damascus are also travelling to Moscow.

Meantime, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed hope that the meetings would help the UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, organize a new peace conference to negotiate a way out of the civil war that has claimed more than 200,000 lives since 2011.
 

News ID 187511