The first round of talks ended last month with no firm agreements and with both sides trading insults.

 

However, UN envoy² Lakhdar Brahimi said then that some "common ground" had been reached.

 

The talks come after hundreds of people were evacuated³ from the besieged⁴ city of Homs under a three-day truce⁵.

 

The evacuations were completed despite mortar⁶ fire and shooting, which both sides blamed on each other and that activists⁷ say killed several people and wounded several others.

 

The civil conflict has claimed well over 100,000 lives since it began in 2011.

 

The violence has also driven 9.5 million people from their homes, creating a major humanitarian⁸ crisis within Syria and for its neighbours.

 

At the end of the last talks on 31 January, the two warring sides appeared to be a long way away from reaching any compromise.

 

The government insists the talks focus on fighting "terrorism" - its description of the uprising - but the opposition says that the priority should be the removal of President Bashar al-Assad. 

 

It has insisted that the government commit in writing to the 2012 Geneva I communique, which called for the formation of a transitional government.

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