Syrian Peace Talks Scheduled for Dec. 12

Mark your calendar

A long-delayed peace conference on Syria's bloody conflict will be held on December 12, a Syrian newspaper said Thursday, as mortar shells and two blasts killed three in Damascus.

The date was reported as the head of Lebanon's Shiite group Hezbollah, which backs Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, said his forces would continue to fight alongside the regime in Syria.

Syrian daily Al-Watan, citing diplomats in Paris, said US Secretary of State John Kerry had told his French counterpart Laurent Fabius that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would announce the date on November 25.