The second session of the Geneva 2 peace conference on Syria ended with little progress made and no date set for a third round.

UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi called for a meeting between UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to help ease tensions, after an impasse was reached on the agenda topics.

The Syrian government has insisted a solution must be found on fighting “violence and terrorism” before the talks move on to focus on the formation of a transitional government.

That “raises the suspicion of the opposition that in fact the government doesn’t want to discuss the (transitional governing body) at all”, said Brahimi.

With both sides refusing to negotiate on whether President Bashar al-Assad should stay or go, it will be up to external actors to push each side to find some common ground.