The UN special peace envoy to Syria has urged the international community to take advice from Russia to resolve the four-year-long civil war that has claimed 210,000 lives and left 1.5 million Syrians with injuries and disabilities.

“Russia has influence on Damascus, and it’s very important that they get involved,” Staffan de Mistura, who was challenged by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last Thursday to relaunch the failed political peace process in Syria, told The Independent. .