PARIS - The U.S. and Russian foreign ministers met on Monday to discuss a planned conference aimed at ending Syria’s civil war against a backdrop of widening regional violence and new allegations of chemical weapons use.

John Kerry and Sergey Lavrov began one-on-one discussions in Paris, a U.S. official said, with such issues as when to hold the meeting on Syria, how to bring the warring parties to the table and whether to include Iran all likely to be on the table.

U.S. officials said little about the talks in advance and they played down expectations of any announcements, suggesting the peace conference’s timing and venue - widely expected to be in Geneva in mid-June - will be announced by the United Nations.

After the meeting, Kerry and Lavrov were due to dine with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, whose nation, along with Britain, has been pushing to end an EU arms embargo that has preventing them from giving weapons to the rebels.

Syria’s government has said it will attend the conference, but the Syrian opposition is still struggling to reach unity in their fractious ranks and has not yet committed to attend.

Heavy fighting raged on Monday around the strategic Syrian border town of Qusair and the capital Damascus, and there were further reports of chemical weapons attacks by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

Syrian government offensives in recent weeks are widely seen as an attempt to bolster Assad’s negotiating position before the planned conference co-sponsored by Washington and Moscow.

Both sides in the conflict, now in its third year, have accused each other of using chemical weapons. (Reuters)