Your trusted source

The U.N. will Tuesday start hosting separate talks with rival sides and "as many stakeholders as possible" in war-torn Syria in a bid to kick start stalled negotiations to end the four-year conflict, AFP reported.

United Nations peace envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura will give a news conference around midday Tuesday, kicking off four to six weeks of "separate consultations" with different sides in Syria's four-year conflict, spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.

The "low key, low profile" talks will include as many players as possible, including different Syrian factions and regional and international players.

Terror-listed entities like ISIS and Al-Nusra have not been invited to the talks, but Fawzi said that groups in contact with them were on the list.

Iran, which backs President Bashar Assad and which has been excluded from two rounds of previous Syria negotiations in Switzerland, has been invited to take part.

There will be no face-to-face meetings between the different sides, with ambassadors and experts taking part in closed-door separate consultation.