BRUSSELS: The EU yesterday urged Russia and Iran to pressure Damascus to engage in talks to end Syria’s bloody civil war, as international donors pledged billions of dollars to help civilians caught up in the conflict, reports AFP.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said Moscow and Tehran, President Bashar al-Assad’s key supporters, had a duty to help wind down the war, now in its eighth year.

More than 80 countries, aid groups and United Nations agencies are meeting in Brussels for the second day of a conference on the future of Syria, after the UN’s special envoy warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in the rebel-held region of Idlib.

Europe is also keen to use the conference to restart UN-led talks in Geneva which have made little progress in eight rounds. This was in part because Assad’s government has paid little interest in them, and Russia, Iran and Turkey launched a rival process in the Kazakh capital Astana last year.