Syrian govt to decide on new round of negotiations

The Syrian government has not decided yet whether to take part in a second round of peace talks tentatively scheduled for next week, a senior official said.

A tumultuous week of negotiations in the Swiss city of Geneva last month between President Bashar Assad’s government and the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group ended without making any significant headway. The U.N. has proposed holding a second round of discussions that would begin on Monday.

The opposition Syrian National Coalition already has agreed to attend. The government, however, has refused to commit.

Bouthaina Shaaban, a close political and media adviser to Mr. Assad, told Syrian state television in an interview late Wednesday that the government delegation to last month’s talks in Switzerland is still evaluating the first round of negotiations and briefing the leadership on them.