UN's Ban calls for 'flexibility' in Syria talks in Vienna

On the eve of the multinational meeting in Vienna between all relevant actors in one of the most dangerous global conflicts in decades, the Syrian Civil War, United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged participants to show "flexibility."

The UN chief told a news conference in Madrid he was "encouraged" that high-level leaders are meeting in Vienna.

He called on the five main participants -- the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran -- to think beyond their national interests.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are scheduled to meet with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran on Friday for a renewed effort to end more than four years of bloodshed.

It will be the first time all the major players in the conflict are in the same room, though there has been no mention of either the Syrian government or the opposition attending.

Foreign ministers held informal talks in Vienna on Thursday ahead of the formal talks today.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif will for the first time, as a key player in the Syria crisis.

Ban welcomed all participants, Iran in particular.

The inclusion of Iran, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in this week's meetings marks a crucial shift after Tehran was excluded from earlier talks, mainly by opposition from Washington and Saudi Arabia.

There is no discernible change to the intractable regional positions of either side.

Friday's talks are due to start amid dim hopes as the key international players in the conflict remain bitterly divided over the question of President Assad.

On one side, Russia and Iran are backing President Assad's forces on the ground and say Damascus must be helped to defeat "terrorism" before a political process can take shape.

The US and its key regional allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, are supporting oppositions and insist Assad must step down in favor of a unity government.

On the eve of the talks, Ban said: "My sincere hope is that they will really address this issue with a sense of flexibility, whatever differences they may have in their political views, in their approaches. They should be united."

Ban urged the five "critically important" nations that will take part in the talks - Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States - to "show their global leadership, rather than their own national perspectives."

"The longer they take their own national perspectives, the more people will suffer and the whole world will suffer," he added.

"As I always say, there is no military solution," Ban said.

Though the US, Turkey and their European and Arab allies have indicated they would give some ground on the critical question of Assad's role in any future process of transition, the major question is whether his two main backers, Russia and Iran, will give any ground to find the solution.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said on Thursday after a meeting with Zarif that the Vienna talks would bring together "all the relevant actors playing around the same table, trying to define a common space for the beginning of a political process."