of Mafraq, near the border with Syria. The United Nations hopes that political talks between the warring sides in Syria will clinch local ceasefires to allow vital food and medicines to reach millions of civilians In pictures: Syria's escalating refugee crisis Syria refugee crisis Syrian refugees transport small stones for their tents at Al Zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria In pictures: Syria's escalating refugee crisis Syria refugee crisis Representatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a deeply divided opposition, world powers and regional bodies started a long-delayed peace conference aimed at bringing an end to a nearly three-year civil war In pictures: Syria's escalating refugee crisis Syria refugee crisis A Syrian refugee family rests inside their shelter in Hatay, TurkeyIn pictures: Syria's escalating refugee crisis Syria refugee crisis A Syrian refugee family from Aleppo crosses the Bosphorus from Uskudar to the European side of Istanbul In pictures: Syria's escalating refugee crisis Syria refugee crisis Syria's air force struck rebel-held areas around Damascus and Aleppo as face-to-face peace talks tentatively began in Switzerland In pictures: Syria's escalating refugee crisis Syria refugee crisis Syrian refugees look out from an evacuated house in the Kucukpazar district of Istanbul. Syrians fill houses which have been evacuated for urban development projects. Destitute Syrian refugees who have fled the war in Syria and camps in Turkey are fighting for their lives in different parts of Istanbul In pictures: Syria's escalating refugee crisis Syria refugee crisis Refugees who moved into the houses in Kucukpazar