THE fourth round of Syrian peace talks finally got under way in Geneva yesterday after being postponed twice by United Nations mediators.

The negotiations follow the same pattern as those in 2016, with UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura meeting separately with the government delegation, led by Syrian UN ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari, and insurgents’ representatives.

He said he hoped to convene a “sort of welcoming ceremony” and bilateral talks later in the day.

Mr de Mistura also met a group of Syrian women lobbying for the release of detainees held by the government, hostages taken by the insurgents and missing persons.

The last attempt to find a peace deal broke down last April, when the Saudi-convened High Negotiation Committee (HNC) of sectarian fundamentalist factions stormed out following a string of battlefield defeats.

But on the eve of yesterday’s talks, HNC spokesman Salem al-Meslet asked for “direct negotiations” with the government delegation — a major U-turn on its refusal to sit down with President Bashar al-Assad’s representatives in Geneva a year ago.

“It would save time and be proof of seriousness instead of negotiating in [separate] rooms,” said Mr Meslet.

Also on Wednesday, Mr de Mistura played down the chances of success.

“Am I expecting a breakthrough? No, I’m not expecting a breakthrough,” he said, while adding that he did look forward to “a very proactive momentum.”

Also invited to the talks was the Cairo group of opposition parties.

But the so-called Moscow Platform, headed by Popular Front for Change and Liberation leader Qadri Jamil, was excluded, as was the mainly Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), whose YPG militia is advancing on the Isis stronghold of Raqqa with US support.

On Saturday, the Moscow Platform accused the UN of giving “special advantages” to the HNC and vowed to boycott the talks.

Ahrar as-Sham, one of the two big HNC factions, has rejected the peace process and resumed its alliance with alQaida under the Tahrir alSham banner.

Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped for a political settlement that would help defeat the “terrorist malaise.”

But US foreign policy divisions manifested themselves yet again, with top Republican John McCain, who chairs the Senate armed services committee, revealing on Wednesday that he had made a covert trip to northern Syria to visit US special forces “advisers” embedded with the YPG.

And US Middle East commander General Joseph Votel said more troops might be needed to maintain the “momentum” of the YPG offensive