Following a two hour meeting with the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told press on Monday that intra-Syrian talks aiming to broker a lasting peace for the country at war since 2011 had officially started.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mister (2nd L, Front) holds a meeting with member of Syria's opposition delegation at Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 1, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

"As far as we are concerned their arrival to the Palais des Nations and initiating the discussions with us is the official beginning of the Geneva talks," the diplomat stated.

UN-brokered meetings are to take place over the next six months in view of finding lasting peace for Syria, a country which has been at war for almost five years.

Scheduled meetings come against a backdrop of stalemates as two past initiatives failed to make headway in solving the political crisis pitching Syrian president Bashar al-Assad against anti-government forces, with terrorist factions such as the Islamic State (IS) and Al-Nusra also in the mix.

"We came here to discuss with the special envoy the Security Council resolution 2254," said opposition spokesperson Salem al-Meslet.

"I believe we received very positive messages from the special envoy and tomorrow he will have a meeting with the regime side and we will wait for a reply from him," he added.

Of particular importance for the HNC is a set of preconditions which includes the lifting of sieges, stopping the shelling and releasing detainees.

De Mistura reminded that last year's Vienna meetings had called for discussions regarding the implementation of a ceasefire to take place in parallel with the start of talks though discussions had to take place at the ISSG (International Syria Support Group) level.

"The Syrian people want everyone who has got the capacity of influencing this conflict to actually see that during the talks there is incremental improvement in order to believe that these talks are not just about talks but about facts," he iterated.

Today's meeting with the opposition delegation follows initial talks with the Syrian Government's counterpart last Friday.

Scheduled proximity talks will not only aim to discuss governance, constitutional change and the holding of elections but also address the implementation of a lasting ceasefire to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and the possibility of stopping the threat of IS.

Estimates reveal that 250,000 Syrian people have died in the five years since the war started and that more than 4 million people have fled the Middle Eastern country as a result of protracted violence.

An additional 6.5 million have been internally displaced by conflict and 13.5 million people inside the country are in urgent need of humanitarian aid.

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