Efforts to establish a constitutional committee for Syria are worth going the “extra mile” for, UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Tuesday, after meeting the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey - guarantors of a fragile ceasefire in the wartorn country – who agreed that it should convene for the first time early next year, in Geneva.

Half of Syria’s children, that’s four million, have grown up only knowing a life of violence, as the war-battered country enters its eighth year of conflict, the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday.

The United Nations began a four-week operation on Sunday, delivering lifesaving assistance to hundreds of thousands of Syrians in desperate need, from across the border in neighbouring Jordan.

It “may not” be possible to form an inclusive and legitimate constitutional committee in Syria – a way out of the years long crisis plaguing the country – the United Nations negotiator for the conflict-ridden nation has warned.