A day after the UN envoy for Syria announced his planned departure, the head of the humanitarian taskforce for the war-ravaged country said Thursday (October 18th) he would also resign next month, AFP reported.

"I am also leaving at the end of November," Jan Egeland told reporters in Geneva.

His comment came after the UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, announced Wednesday that he will step down at the end of next month after more than four years in the key post.

The Italian-Swedish diplomat, who is the UN's third Syria envoy in six years, said he was leaving for "purely personal reasons", citing the need to give his family "a little bit of attention" after a long stint in the demanding post.

And Egeland insisted Thursday that he had already decided when his contract was renewed last month that he would leave at the end of November, and that it was "a coincidence" that he and de Mistura were stepping down at the same time.

He said his three years in the job had been "very exhausting", especially since he also has a full-time job as head of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Both men are leaving as UN efforts to end the seven-year war show no sign of a breakthrough.