The newly appointed UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus Tuesday, kicking off his first visit to the war-torn country since he was appointed in July, official sources told Xinhua.
Mistura, along with his Egyptian deputy Ramzy Ezzedine Ramzy, entered Syria by land through neighbouring Lebanon on a three-day visit, during which he will be meeting with top Syrian officials and representatives of the domestically-based opposition parties.
De Mistura, a former deputy Italian foreign minister, was appointed July 10 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to fill a vacancy left by Lakhdar Brahimi, who resigned in May out of frustration for failing to push forward a political solution to Syria's long-running conflict.
Brahimi himself had replaced Koffi Annan, the former UN Secretary General who was the first international envoy to Syria and who also resigned for the very same reason.
Following his maiden Syria visit as the UN envoy, de Mistura will also embark on a series of visits to other countries in the region. After that, he will have to fly to other capitals during October and after the conclusion of a high-level debate in the UN General Assembly.
According to the UN, the conflict in Syria, which began in March 2011, has led to more than 190,000 deaths. It has also sent three million people fleeing to neighbouring countries in search of refuge and left a further 6.5 million displaced inside their war-hit homeland.
