Kazakhstan Says Delegations of Syrian Gov’t, Rebels Invited to Astana Meetings
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Delegations from the Syrian government and rebels along with UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura have been invited to attend meetings on the Syria crisis in Kazakhstan's capital of Astana on February 15-16, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said.
The implementation of the ceasefire regime in Syria, measures to stabilize situation in particular areas, adoption of rules for a joint operational group, and agreeing further measures to consolidate the ceasefire regime will be discussed at the meetings, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday, according to Reuters on Sunday.
On January 23-24, Astana hosted Syrian talks organized by Iran, Russia and Turkey, with the presence of representatives of the Syrian government and opposition groups.
At the end of the talks, Tehran, Moscow and Ankara agreed on the establishment of a trilateral mechanism to support the ceasefire in Damascus.
The trio stressed that there was no military solution to the Syria conflict and it can be only resolved through a political process based on full implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254.
Experts from the three countries and the United Nations held a technical meeting in Astana on February 6 behind closed doors on the implementation of a ceasefire across Syria, which came into effect late last year.
The nationwide ceasefire, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey with the support of Iran in December 2016, is the extended version of an earlier truce that ended years of fighting in Aleppo and put the strategic city back under Damascus control.
Syria’s warring sides will resume their talks in the Swiss city of Geneva on February 20. The upcoming negotiations will be held under United Nations auspices.
The Geneva talks were originally planned to take place on February 8, but the United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said he had rescheduled them to take further advantage of the fruits of the Astana discussions.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), currently controlling parts of it.
According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.