MOSCOW (NNI): Russia expressed satisfaction with last week's trilateral meeting on Syria's protracted crisis in Geneva, while a loud explosion rattled a district of the Syrian capital of Damascus overnight.
The latest Geneva talks, held last Friday, drew UN-Arab League joint special envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns. The three stressed the need for a speedy end to all forms of violence in Syria.
"It was a constructive meeting, a concerned partners' conversation with our colleagues," Interfax news agency quoted Bogdanov as saying. "They, like us, have a serious concern over the affairs there (in Syria) for not to let the situation deteriorate and come up as soon as possible with a political solution," he said.
It was the second such meeting in nearly one month. The first one was held in December, when the three envoys agreed that a political process to end the crisis in Syria was necessary and possible.
Bogdanov said various options have been discussed in the UN about sending international observers to Syria.
"Likely, a necessity to send a reliable team of international monitors will appear. So far, these issues have not been discussed on a political level but the UN experts in New York have been working on preliminarily various options which could be discussed later," Bogdanov said.
According to the diplomat, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council could convene to discuss the situation in Syria "before the end of January, around the 25th, 26th, 27th" after Brahimi presents a new report on Syria, Bogdanov said.
Although he did not specify the participants, Bogdanov said a ministerial meeting was unlikely.
Also on Monday, a loud explosion rattled Damascus' district of Muhajireen, causing windows to implode and prompting members of the security forces to fan out and cut off nearby roads as a precautionary measure.
The cause of the big blast at the Shoura area in Muhajireen has not been immediately figured out, but local media reports said it is most likely a shell bomb, without providing information on any possible casualties. The area houses a number of security headquarters and is considered one of the most heavily guarded areas in Damascus. Syria's official media has spelled no words on the incident so far.
Blasts have intensified in the Syrian capital recently, coupled with armed rebels' attacks on army checkpoints in several hotspots around the capital.