United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has invited Syria's government and opposition groups for separate talks in Geneva next month in the latest bid to end the four-year-old civil war, a UN spokesman said on Friday, April 24, according to Reuters.

De Mistura, who is due to brief the UN Security Council later on Friday, plans for individual "low-key" talks with each of the main stakeholders over four to six weeks in the Swiss city, Ahmad Fawzi told a news briefing.

Major powers and regional players have been invited, but not Islamic State or Jabhat al-Nusra, which are classified as "terrorist organizations", he said. Some of those present at the talks would be able to communicate with them, he added.

Syria's ally Iran is among those invited, he told Reuters.