Iran sticks to Astana's path and defends Damascus' right to self-determination

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said that it understood the concerns of some countries about what was happening in Idlib, and demanded that Damascus be allowed to decide its fate on its own.

The Foreign Ministry added that the Astana track is the only path capable of resolving the Syrian crisis, and called for its preservation.

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Tehran, Abdul Qadir Fayez, said that it is clear that Iran is moving at different levels in the Syrian north, especially after the Astana track was subjected to various strikes from all sides, the last of which is practically and militarily on the ground in the city of Idlib.

The reporter stated that such statements show that Tehran is present militarily in this battle, and that the Syrian army must return control over the entire Syrian territory, which is what Tehran describes as the war against terrorism starting from the Syrian north.

He said that Tehran has recognized the importance of keeping the Astana track, which recognized Iran a real determinant of the Syrian interior, and placed it on the map of the solution to the Syrian crisis.

Tripartite agreement
Last December 11, Russia, Turkey, and Iran agreed, at the conclusion of a new round of Astana's talks on the Syrian crisis, to implement understandings among themselves about the situation in Idlib Governorate (northwestern Syria), establish stability in the northeast of the country, reject separatist aspirations, and fight those they described By the militants.

In a closing statement of a meeting held in the Kazakh capital, Nur Sultan (formerly Astana), the guarantor countries agreed on the path of de-escalation in Syria to implement all understandings related to Idlib fully in order to achieve calm in the de-escalation areas.

Escalation and displacement
Syrian government forces backed by the Russian Air Force have stepped up their campaign to retake Idlib, the last stronghold of the opposition, in which millions of people who have fled from other parts of Syria for nearly nine years are the age of civil war.

Turkey - which supports the Syrian National Army fighters who control areas in the northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo - says that the advance of the Damascus regime forces violates the agreements concluded with Russia.

In return, Moscow and its allies accuse Ankara of violating the terms of the Astana agreement by allowing the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham - an armed alliance that includes elements previously allied to al-Qaeda - to remain in control of the rest of the province.

In the midst of the ongoing battles, there is a huge movement of displacement from Idlib, which already hosts about two million people who have fled to it from different parts of Syria.