New round of talks in Kazakhstan

Omar Hourani - Nour Sultan

The 12th round of Astana negotiations on Syria was launched in the Kazakh capital, Sultan.

The delegations of the sponsoring countries have arrived in Turkey, Russia and Iran. Jordan also participates as an observer, in addition to the UN envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen. Closed meetings of delegations of States sponsoring the negotiations have begun.

The most important issues include the cease-fire agreement in and around Idlib, the future of the eastern Euphrates area controlled by the Kurdish units, and the file of detainees.

A source in the Syrian opposition to the island that it will demand an end to the practices of the arbitrary regime towards civilians in areas controlled by the reconciliation agreements, and is expected to focus on the demand to activate the file of the release of detainees.

The most important feature of this tour is that it comes after the elimination of the state organization east of the Euphrates, with the continuous talk by the Turkish side about the imminent start of a military operation to end the control of Kurdish units on the east of the Euphrates and Manbaj, and secure the Syrian-Turkish border.

Constitution Committee
A spokesman for the opposition delegation Ayman al-Assami said the talks will deal with the Idleb file and increase confidence between the parties to the fighting in northern Syria and the situation of refugees and the humanitarian situation.

He added to Al Jazeera Net that the technical meetings that will precede the start of the round of talks will address the formation of the Constitutional Committee, in addition to considering the accession of other States as observers.

Al-Asami said that the eighth meeting of the working group on the release of detainees is expected to be held during the talks. He also presented files relating to the regime's practices and violations of the rights of civilians in the areas it has recently captured. He also mentioned all abuses committed by the regime.

In a related context, the Information Office of the UN envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, that he met in Geneva with US special envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, in the context of his extensive talks on the political solution in Syria in accordance with Security Council resolution 2254.

The media office - in statements to the island - that Pedersen will go after his meeting with Jeffrey to the capital of Kazakhstan to participate in the talks in the course of Astana, the first time he participated after he left the former envoy Stephane Dimstora.

For her part, the official spokeswoman for Syrian affairs in the US State Department, Sofia Khalji said that the path of Astana has proved unable to prevent violence or make substantial gains towards peace in Syria, and called on Moscow and all actors of the Syrian file to support the Security Council resolutions on the political solution in Syria.

The last round of the conference was held on 28 November last, after the opposition lost all areas covered by the agreement to reduce the escalation, except for the fourth region, which includes the province of Idlib and around.

The first version of the Astana negotiations was launched on January 23, 2017, and resulted in an emphasis on the political solution in Syria, within the agreement on the establishment of a tripartite mechanism to monitor the implementation of the cease-fire in Syria, reached by the delegations of Russia, Turkey and Iran.