Top diplomats were to meet in Switzerland Saturday in a fresh push to revive a ceasefire in Syria.

With Washington and Moscow backing opposite sides in the five-year war, the talks in Lausanne will bring together US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov with top diplomats from the UN and regional powers including Iran.

Kerry met one-on-one with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and was also set to meet with Lavrov before the multilateral talks start later in the afternoon, a US official said.

Both sides have played down hopes of a breakthrough, with Lavrov telling reporters on Friday he had no “special expectations” of progress, while a senior official in Kerry’s entourage said the aim was to explore ideas for ending the fighting.

Iran also voiced skepticism on Saturday, with a foreign affairs ministry spokesman saying: “I don’t think we can have a lot of a hope for the outcome of this meeting.”

Source: AFP