Syrian foreign minister to visit Moscow on Thursday

File photo: Foreign Ministers, Sergei Lavrov (C) of Russia, Walid al-Muallem (L) of Syria and Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran, attend a news conference in Moscow

Russian, Syrian foreign ministers to discuss Geneva peace talks, repatriation of Syrian refugees

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem will visit Moscow on Thursday ahead of Syrian peace talks in Geneva, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

Al-Muallem would discuss with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the Geneva peace talks scheduled on Sept. 14, repatriation of the Syrian refugees, and "staged” chemical attacks in Idlib, the ministry said in a statement.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced in the conflict, according to the UN.