Peace talks being held in Geneva to try to end Syria's five-year-old war must ensure a political transition and respect for human rights, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Saturday. "Humanitarian law must be respected and the objective of a political transition actively pursued to enable the talks to succeed," Fabius said in a statement sent to Reuters. The Syrian main opposition Higher Negotiation Committee (HNC) demands include allowing aid convoys into rebel-held besieged areas where tens of thousands are living in dire conditions. The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Saturday that 16 people have starved to death in the government-besieged town of Madaya since aid convoys arrived this month and blamed the authorities for blocking medical supplies shipments. Russian air strikes on Syria have killed nearly 1,400 civilians since Moscow started its aerial campaign nearly four months ago, a group monitoring the war said on Saturday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which collects information from a network of sources on the ground, said the Russian strikes had also killed 965 Daesh militants as well as 1,233 fighters from various other groups. The main Syrian opposition group heading to Geneva peace talks on Saturday has demanded a halt to a joint Russian and Syrian bombing campaign they say targets mostly civilians in rebel held areas as a pre-condition for engaging in talks with the Syrian government. Russia began a major aerial campaign on Sept. 30 to help its ally Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The air strikes tilted the war in Assad's way after major setbacks earlier in 2015 brought rebel groups close to the coastal heartland of his Alawite sect. Moscow says it is targeting the Daesh militants but rebels and residents say the Russian air strikes are causing hundreds of civilian casualties in indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas away from the frontline. — Agencies
