Syria’s opposition will decide this week whether to attend forthcoming peace talks in Geneva and has complained to the United Nations that Russian air strikes have carried on despite a truce, opposition co-ordinator Riad Hijab said.

The Afghan Taliban says it will not participate in a peace process with Kabul's government until foreign forces in Afghanistan stop attacking its positions and leave the country.

Warplanes have carried out air raids on parts of northern Syria as a top opposition official warned violations of a fragile ceasefire could jeopardise a planned resumption of UN-brokered peace talks.

The Afghan government expects to hold direct talks with representatives of the Taliban by the end of this month, an official has said.

Russia has said it supports the inclusion of all opposition parties in Syrian peace talks, including representatives of two hard-line Islamic groups.

The UN special envoy for Syria has announced the official start of peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition leaders.

It is unclear whether peace talks aimed at resolving the Syrian conflict will go ahead today.

Syria’s largest opposition group has said it will attend UN peace talks in Switzerland, but it will not negotiate directly with the Assad Government.

The opposing sides will not initially meet face-to-face in planned Syria peace talks in Geneva next week, US secretary of state John Kerry has said.

Talks about a fragile peace deal for Ukraine have ended in tension, with differences over who is at fault over continued violence despite a ceasefire.

Syria’s first peace talks came close to collapsing before they began, with the opposition refusing to meet president Bashar al-Assad’s delegation and the government threatening to bring its team home.