IS loses Al-Bab

Turkish-backed Syrian rebels yesterday announced that they had taken full control of the northern town of Al-Bab from the Islamic State jihadist group after weeks of deadly fighting.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported that rebels had overrun the centre of the town, which had been a key IS stronghold just 25 kilometres south of the border.

"We are announcing Al-Bab completely liberated, and we are now clearing mines from the residential neighbourhoods," said Ahmad Othman, commander of the Sultan Mourad rebel group.

But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that IS fighters were still present in parts of the town and the rebels were in control of less than half of it.

Turkish defence minister said armed forces and allied rebels have almost total control of the townafter entering the centre of the former jihadist stronghold.

The rebels launched their offensive to capture Al-Bab last year with the support of Turkish ground troops, artillery and air strikes.

Meanwhile in Geneva, the UN's Syria envoy met rival negotiators gathered for peace talks yesterday, but even getting them into the same room appeared uncertain as hopes remained slim for a breakthrough.

Persistent violence and deadlock over Syria's political future are clouding the start of "Geneva 4," the fourth round of UN-sponsored talks on the conflict which has killed more than 310,000 people since 2011.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura had already warned that he was not expecting a breakthrough in the first peace talks since April 2016.

Yesterday, he held separate meetings with the regime and opposition delegates, notably to discuss the agenda and the format for negotiations proper.

Mistura said he hoped to bring them together later in the day, but a tentatively-planned fternoon event was delayed amid disagreement over arrangements.

After the initial bilateral talks with De Mistura, an opposition source said the UN envoy was understood to want a "round-table" with all the parties.

But the opposition is divided between the main umbrella High Negotiations Committee (HNC) -- which wants direct negotiations with the regime -- and delegations from Cairo and Moscow.

"This is not accepted at all since it means all parties are equal and will turn to be exchanging points of view and not negotiating," the opposition source told AFP.

Neither regime delegation chief Bashar al-Jaafari nor opposition team chief negotiator Nasr al-Hariri spoke as they arrived at UN offices in the Swiss city.

On the eve of the talks, Russia called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop bombing during the discussions -- but de Mistura downplayed hopes for the negotiations.

The ground -- both in territory and diplomatically -- has shifted since the last UN-sponsored talks broke up in April 2016, and the rebels are in a significantly weaker position.