Talks aimed at bringing an end to the almost five-year-long war in Syria are expected to start on Friday in Geneva after being postponed, according to the United Nations. Negotiations had been scheduled to start on Monday but UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said that the parties have yet to agree on the makeup of the delegations, which forced the talks to be delayed. The main sticking point has been who will represent the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad. De Mistura told reporters that he is still working on the list of opposition representatives and that he will send out new invitations on Tuesday. The most immediate priorities in the talks are to achieve a nationwide ceasefire between all parties except IS and the Nusra Front and increase humanitarian aid, he said. At the same time, rumors have emerged that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has told the Syrian opposition that if it boycotts the talks, his country would halt support to it. Kerry, however, dismissed this and said he remained confident that talks would occur. On his part, Khaled Khoja, president of Syrian National Coalition…
