The US is taking a renewed interest in a political solution to the seven-year civil war in Syria, the head of the opposition said yesterday, as it called for increased pressure on Russia and the regime.

The administration held a meeting last week with the UK, France, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to discuss Syria, in which it said it would be withdrawing its support for talks backed by Russia, Iran and Turkey, an adviser to the Syrian opposition told the Telegraph.

The US is understood to want to avoid Russia taking the initiative over Geneva with parallel talks hosted in the Russian city of Sochi which are also set to take place in the coming weeks.

The meeting was seen by western diplomats as the first concrete sign of a renewed commitment to Syria, after the US was accused of abandoning the opposition under the Obama administration and focusing only on the fight against Isil.

“We felt that there is something new. They want to take the leadership, the initiative,” the head of opposition umbrella group the Syrian Negotiations Commission, Nasr al-Hariri, told a parliamentary briefing in London yesterday.