BEIRUT — The United Nations' special envoy for Syria says he plans a new round of peace talks in Geneva next month.
Staffan de Mistura's office said Saturday that the aim is for delegates to arrive in the Swiss city on July 9 and for talks — the seventh round so far — to start the following day. It didn't specify how long the round is expected to last.
It said that de Mistura plans to convene further rounds of talks in August and September.
The U.N.-hosted Geneva talks between parties to the conflict in Syria are the main political forum for efforts to end the six-year conflict.
The Iraqi military says it has captured a border crossing with Syria from the Islamic State group.
Tribal forces and border police, supported by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aircraft, took part in the operation to take the al-Waleed crossing, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement Saturday.
Al-Waleed, in the far west of Iraq, fell to the Islamic State group in 2015, giving the militants full control of the Iraq-Syria border, which they vowed to erase as part of their ambition to build a caliphate.
In recent months the militants have been coming under increasing pressure in the country's western deserts from government forces.
The Syrian military has announced the cessation of all combat operations in the southern city of Daraa for 48 hours in support of national reconciliation. (AP)