The UN announced that the latest talks to end Syria's five-year civil war might face new delays as world powers dispute whom they will allow to represent the opposition.

"It's likely that the date of the 25th might slip by a few days simply for practical reasons," Farhan Haq, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said Thursday.

Haq said UN officials would re-evaluate preparations over the weekend and make a decision about the Monday start of the talks in Geneva.

The war, which began as a series of peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad, has killed more than 250,000 people and forced several million from their homes.

Source: MENA