Dec 13, 2017

The United Nations peace envoy for Syria called Wednesday on Russian President Vladimir Putin to "have the courage" to convince his ally in Damascus to hold new elections in the war-ravaged country.

Staffan de Mistura, who is mediating peace negotiations in Geneva, said that a military victory alone in Syria's six-year civil war was not enough for President Bashar al-Assad and that new polls were needed for him to "win the peace".

"There needs, straight away, to be a political process that includes everyone to achieve a new constitution and new elections," he told Swiss RTS television.

Russia intervened in Syria's devastating conflict in 2015, providing aerial and ground support for government forces, ostensibly to combat advances by what Moscow and Damascus termed

"terrorist" groups.