SYRIAN peace talks will take place today at the UN headquarters in Geneva.

The negotiations involve representatives from the Syrian government, opposition factions, and their foreign backers.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “We expect that the talks in Geneva will end the dangerous prolonged pause in the intra-Syrian dialogue.”

“Any attempts to cheat somewhere to cater to the interests of those who do not wish to see peace and unity in Syria will have a bad effect on the continuity and productiveness of the political process.”

Ms Zakharova said reports of a new alliance of factions led by al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate the Levant Conquest Front was “worrying.”

Jihadist group Tahrir alSham — the Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant — was formed last month amid infighting between extremist factions in western Syria.

It includes the Islamist coalition Ahrar as-Sham — one of the main groups supported by Saudi Arabia whose representatives will also be in Geneva.

Ms Zakharova claimed the new formation was plotting “the creation of another Islamic State in the south of Idlib Province and north of Hama Province, a second one after the ‘caliphate’ in Raqqa.”

Meanwhile invading Turkish forces and their Free Syrian Army allies claimed to have reached the centre of the town of al-Bab, the Isis stronghold north-east of Aleppo.

Further south the Syrian army continued itsadvance against oppoistion groups north of Deir Hafir, while in Aleppo itself they retook the suburb of Souq al-Jabas after five months of occupation by al-Qaidalinked militants.

And in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, troops took Alloush hill overlooking the cemetery from besieging Isis fighters — the key to breaking though to a lifeline airport which was cut off last month.