The White House said on Thursday it was hopeful that Syria peace talks suspended by the United Nations in Geneva would be back on track by the end of the month.

"The UN representative ... did announce that the talks had been paused. He's used that terminology primarily because he expects the talks to resume before the end of the month," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing. "We're obviously hopeful that that will happen. And we're going to continue to try to encourage both sides in that direction."