Syria talks with a fresh format but few fresh ideas opened in the Swiss lakeside town of Lausanne on Saturday, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry seeking a new path to peace after failing to secure a ceasefire in direct talks with Russia.

Kerry hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and seven foreign ministers from the region - from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt - three weeks after the collapse of a painstakingly crafted U.S.-Russian ceasefire plan that many saw as the last hope for peace this year.

Lavrov has said he has "no special expectations" for Saturday's meeting. A senior U.S. State Department official said he foresaw no major announcement at the end of the day.

"This is going to be, as it has been now for several years, a very difficult process," the U.S. official said.



Europe is not represented at the meeting being held in a luxury hotel on Lake Geneva. But France's Foreign Ministry confirmed that foreign ministers of like-minded nations plan to meet to discuss Syria in London on Sunday.