Summary
The biggest push to date to end Syria's tangled war was thrown into fresh disarray Tuesday as the government denied formal peace negotiations had begun and the opposition cancelled a meeting with the U.N. envoy.
Chief regime negotiator Bashar al-Jaafari insisted that discussions were still "in a preparatory phase," only a day after U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura announced the Geneva talks had officially started.
De Mistura, the third person to be U.N. Syria envoy, said late Monday that his first formal meeting with the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) signalled the official start of the hoped-for six months of peace talks.
Since the conflict began in March 2011, more than 260,000 people have died and more than half of Syria's population have fled their homes.
On Tuesday, Syrian state news agency SANA and monitors said government troops backed by militants had taken key villages north of Aleppo, close to two other villages long under rebel siege.
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