At a press conference held at UN Headquarters in Geneva after the meeting, Mr. Brahimi spoke alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and United States Secretary of State John Kerry. The two Government officials have been meeting in Geneva since Thursday discussing a Russian proposal for Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control.

“The work you are doing is extremely important in itself … but also important for all those working with you to bring forward the Geneva conference successfully,” Mr. Brahimi told reporters, referring to the long-proposed international peace conference on Syria commonly referred to as “Geneva II.”

Mr. Brahimi has been hard at work on the diplomatic front to bring the conference to fruition, including in discussions last week at the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg. The goal of a second Geneva conference would to be to achieve a political solution to the conflict through a comprehensive agreement between the Syrian Government and the opposition for the full implementation of the Geneva communiqué, adopted after the first international meeting on the issue on 30 June 2012.

In his comments, Mr. Kerry thanked the United Nations and Mr. Brahimi for hosting discussions on Geneva II. Those discussions have been productive and timely, as he and Mr. Lavrov were meeting on Russia’s recent initiative to “gain control of, remove and destroy chemical weapons in Syria and we would both agree that we have constructive conversations.”

“President is Obama is deeply committed to a negotiated solution and we know that Russia is likewise. We are working hard to find common ground to make that happen. We have both agreed to do homework required to make it happen,” Mr. Kerry said, announcing that he and Mr. Lavrov planned to meet in New York during the general debate of the UN General Assembly, which will open on 24 September.

While the two leaders would further consider the matter, including possibly settling on a date for the Geneva II conference, much of the way ahead “will depend on achieving success in the next hours and days” on the question of Syria’s chemical weapons, Mr. Kerry said.

“Both of us, Sergei Lavrov and I, our countries, our Presidents, are deeply concerned about the death toll and destruction and the acts on all sides that are creating more and more refugees, more and more of a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said, adding that the two Governments were committed to working together.

Speaking next, Mr. Lavrov said that now that Syria has signed the legislative decree providing for the accession of Syria to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, “we have to engage our professionals … and the United Nations to design a road so that the issue is resolved quickly, professionally as soon as practical.

“We are very glad that Mr. Brahimi has invited us to discuss a longer term goal for Syria, namely preparations for the so-called Geneva II conference. From the very beginning of the Syrian conflict, Russia and the Russian President have been promoting a peaceful resolution,” he said.

Mr Lavrov noted that Russia had initiated of the conference from which had emerged the Geneva communiqué agreed and signed “by nearly all the major players, including the United Nations, countries in the region and the P-5 [the permanent members of the Security Council].”

“It is very unfortunate that for a long period the communiqué was basically abandoned and we were not able to have Security Council endorsement of the very important document as is,” he said, thanking Mr. Kerry for his efforts to re-energize the communiqué and work with Russia towards its implementation including through the holding of a new Geneva conference. He said he was very grateful for the discussions with Mr. Brahimi.

Meanwhile, the President of the UN Human Rights Council, which is currently in session in Geneva, issued a letter to both Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Kerry drawing their attention o the work of the independent international commission of inquiry on Syria, which the Council established in 2011.

The Council President, Ambassador Remigiusz Henczel of Poland stressed that the commission had yet to be granted access to Syria, despite repeated calls on Damascus to allow the experts to enter the country. The Council President suggests that the Russian and US officials might take up the matter during the scope of their meetings in Geneva.

The commission presented its latest report to the Human Rights Council on Monday, citing ongoing incidents of murder, rape, torture, widespread attacks on civilians and hostage-taking committed by Syrian forces and anti-Government armed groups. It said that “the perpetrators of these violations and crimes, on all sides, act in defiance of international law. They do not fear accountability.”

The panel, which described Syria today as “a battlefield [where] massacres are perpetrated with impunity [and] and untold number of Syrians have disappeared,” reported that Government and pro-Government forces in Syria have continued to conduct widespread attacks on the civilian population with impunity, committing murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearance as crimes against humanity, stressed that there is no military solution to the conflict.

“The Secretary-General welcomes, therefore, President Obama’s decision to take time to further explore this diplomatic opportunity to achieve this crucially important objective,” a UN spokesman said in New York.

Mr. Ban’s statement follows a flurry of diplomatic activity noted by the media in the past 72 hours, following a reported Russian proposal for Damascus to surrender its chemical weapons and place them under international control. In the meantime, evidence collected by a UN team probing possible chemical weapons use in Syria on 21 August is being examined by laboratories in Europe.

In a national address last night, US President Barack Obama cited “encouraging signs in recent days” and announced that he was sending US Secretary of State John Kerry to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Thursday for further talks, and that he would continue discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Both countries are permanent members of the UN Security Council – along with China France and the United Kingdom – which has been deadlocked over a solution to the 30 month crisis in Syria.

The UN chief welcomed the efforts by the Russian Federation to advance a possible agreement. “He hopes the US-Russian meetings later this week will be productive in moving toward a process for addressing the Syrian chemical weapons threat which all parties will be committed to,” the spokesperson said.

“The confirmed use of chemical weapons would be an outrageous crime for which there must be accountability and determined efforts to prevent any recurrence,” the statement said.

Adopted by a vote of 107 in favour to 12 against, with 59 abstentions, the Assembly text expressed the body’s outrage at the “rapidly increasing death toll” in Syria, which the UN estimates to be in the tens of thousands. The resolution also strongly condemns the Syrian Government’s increased use of heavy weapons, and also condemns ongoing “widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

This marks the fifth resolution on the situation in Syria voted by the 193-member body since 2011, when fighting broke out between the Government and opposition forces seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad. The current measure welcomes the establishment last year of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces “as effective representative interlocutors needed for a political transition.”

The Arab-led resolution requests the international community to provide “urgent” financial support to host countries to enable them to respond to the growing humanitarian needs of Syrian refugees and affected communities. It also requests the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to submit a report to the Assembly within 90 days “on the very dire situation” of IDPs in the country.

“Over the past 800 days, the conflict has continued to escalate, threatening the establishment of ethnic or sectarian fiefdoms—thus gravely imperilling the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria,” said Assembly President Vuk Jeremic ahead of action on the text. “Violence is begetting more violence; hatred, more hatred —carving deeper and deeper wounds into Syria’s society.”

“If we are unable to do anything to stop this tragedy, then how can we sustain the moral credibility of this Organization?” he asked, adding: “It is high time to say ‘enough is enough;’ enough to complacency and enough to fratricide.” He said that evidence of chemical weapons use is now coming to light. “Succumbing to the despondency of the status quo “is a prescription for a disastrous future” of multiplying crises in Syria and the wider Middle East region.”

President Jeremic said that at least 80,000 have perished since the start of the hostilities, most of these casualties believed to be civilians, and that the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has registered more than a million, now living in camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and beyond. Over four million more people have been internally displaced since the fighting began.

“We should strive to build on the agreement reached by the Action Group for Syria last June in Geneva, and reinvigorated a few days ago in Moscow, to get the political process off the ground, enabling the citizens of Syria to begin reconciliation and freely determine their nation’s future, he said.

Also speaking before the vote, Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja’Afari expressed his surprise that the resolution was tabled under the Assembly’s agenda item on “prevention of armed conflict” because he believed its content contradicted that purpose. Indeed, it sought to escalate violence by legitimizing the provision of weapons to terrorists in Syria and “by recognizing one faction of the opposition as the Syrian people’s legitimate representative. “

Whenever a political solution looked likely, he said, terrorist activity rose and Member States aborted their efforts to find a political solution. Al-Qaida-linked terrorists were operating in Syria thanks to the “involvement of intelligence agencies of well-known States” and they committed “unprecedented savage crimes” and human rights violations.

Syria had reacted positively to peace initiatives and he stressed his continued commitment to achieving a “Syrian-led comprehensive national dialogue” that would include the opposition. He called on opposition forces that rejected dialogue to adhere to the will of the “great majority of the Syrian people,” which favoured a political solution.

Nearly 30 other delegations took the floor, with some questioning “the motive behind the text – regime change – which has been clear from the start,” while others urged delegations to “look at the resolution honestly; look at the words on the page, which clearly call for a speedy political transition in Syria.”

Still other speakers saw the resolution as “counterproductive” in light of the understanding reached by US Secretary of State John Kerry, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow earlier this month to convene a an international meeting on a political transition in Syria. Those urging the Assembly to reject the text said the resolution bestowed authority on the National Coalition which could only be exercised by democratically elected officials.

According to the final communique the transitional government “could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups and shall be formed on the basis of mutual consent”.

The final communique omits what a previous draft had stated that: it “would
 exclude from government those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardise stability and reconciliation”.

“We need rapid steps to reach agreement. The conflict must be resolved through peaceful dialogue and negotiations,” Annan said.

Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said he was “delighted” with the result as it meant no external solution was being imposed on Syria.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, took a different perspective from Lavrov, saying the communique sent a clear message to Assad that he Assad will still have to go. He will never pass the mutual consent test,” she said.

William Hague, the British foreign secretary, said Assad and his close associates could not lead any transition.

Hague called for the UN Security Council to start drafting a resolution next week setting out sanctions against Syria, a move that he noted put him at odds with Russia, according to Al Jazeera. 

An explosion also rocked the Qaboon district of Damascus on Saturday and another blast hit the country’s second city Aleppo in the north. A further blast hit an oil pipeline in a rebel-held area of the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, according to AP.

Annan said on Friday that he was “optimistic” that the Geneva talks would lead to a satisfactory outcome.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, met Hillary Clinton, in St Petersburg on Friday. He said there was “a very good chance of finding common ground at the conference in Geneva”.

Lavrov, said that he had seen some flexibility on Clinton’s part during their talks.

“I felt a change in Hillary Clinton’s position. There were not ultimatums,” he said. “Not a word was said that the document we will discuss in Geneva cannot be touched,” he said.

A senior US state department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Reuters news agency that “areas of difficulty and difference” remain, but that an accord was still possible.

Kofi Annan, joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, has laid on the table a proposal involving the formation of a national unity government comprising leaders from both the government and the opposition.

Annan’s new proposal will call for multi-party elections, and an offer for “significant” international funding to rebuild war-torn Syria, according to a blueprint obtained by the AFP news agency.

According to Annan the transitional government “could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, but would exclude from government those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardise stability and reconciliation”, leaving unclear whether Bashar al-Assad will be excluded form the transition government.

Foreign ministers from Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq are also set to attend the meeting. Iran, Assad’s other close ally, was excluded – a condition set down by the US – as was Saudi Arabia, which has supported the Syrian opposition.

Meanwhile, Iran’s U.N. ambassador said on Friday that Iran could be a “heavyweight champion” of efforts to bring peace to Syria, according to Al Arabiya.

Assad on Thursday dismissed the notion of any external solution to the crisis, “We will not accept any non-Syrian, non-national model, whether it comes from big countries or friendly countries.

“No one knows how to solve Syria’s problems as well as we do.”

Russia, China, the United States, the United Kingdom and France have voiced support for the plan, which will be reviewed at a June 30 conference of foreign ministers in Geneva, even though, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, said that he is in favor of changes that might lead to “national agreement”, but warned that Moscow “will not support  an external solution”. Assad’s fate, he added, must be decided “by the Syrian people”.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition groups said they would reject the plan if it did not explicitly ban President Bashar al-Assad in any “unity government”.

Annan’s new proposal will call for multi-party elections, and an offer for “significant” international funding to rebuild war-torn Syria, according to a blueprint obtained by the AFP news agency.

According to Annan the transitional government “could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, but would exclude from government those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardise stability and reconciliation”, leaving unclear which officials should be excluded from the transitional government.

Foreign ministers from Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq are also set to attend the meeting. Iran, Assad’s other close ally, was excluded – a condition set down by the US – as was Saudi Arabia, which has supported the Syrian opposition, according to Al Jazeera.

Syria’s state television SANA reported on Thursday that two explosions rocked a court complex in central Damascus, wounding three people and damaging 20 cars.

Meanwhile, at least 70 people were killed Thursday in Syria, mainly in areas near Damascus, according to opposition activists.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expressed concerns on Thursday regarding some 1000 Syrian civilians trapped iin the central province of Homs.

It said that a joint team from the ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent was prevented from entering the worst-hit areas on Wednesday in Homs.