ASTANA: Major powerbrokers agreed Friday to hold a peace congress for Syria in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi in late January in a bid to speed up a political settlement for the war-torn country.
Sochi will host a “congress of national dialogue on Syria” on January 29 and 30, said a joint statement released after two days of talks spearheaded by Russia and Iran, both key backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, and rebel-aligned Turkey.
The “Congress of National Dialogue” will see “the participation of all segments of Syrian society,” said the statement released in the Kazakh capital Astana.
“To this end three guarantors will hold a special preparation meeting in Sochi before the congress on 19-20 January,” it added, referring to Russia, Turkey and Iran.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been hoping to convert Moscow’s game-changing military intervention in Syria into a political settlement on his terms.
In November, he convened the leaders of Turkey and Iran in Sochi to discuss the plan for the peace conference.
While both Russian officials and Assad have spoken enthusiastically of the plan, rebel representatives have been wary and the UN has yet to firmly endorse it.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura’s office acknowledged Friday the plan to hold the congress in January without throwing its full support behind it.
“The United Nations maintains its view that any political initiative by international actors should be assessed by its ability to contribute to and support the mandated political process under the United Nations in Geneva,” Mistura’s office said in a statement.
Mistura held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow on Thursday.
Representatives of the opposition have expressed fears the Sochi congress could prove a distraction from the UN negotiations.
The Astana talks have run in parallel to the negotiations taking place in Geneva with the backing of the United Nations, but neither set of talks have borne much fruit.
Since the start of Syria’s war in 2011, several diplomatic attempts to halt the conflict have stumbled, mainly over Assad’s future.
A previous attempt to convene the Sochi congress in November failed following a lack of agreement among prospective participants.
Turkey has said it will be opposed to any talks involving the Kurdish YPG militia of the Democratic Union Party (PYD). The Kremlin has however insisted that Turkey’s concerns would not stand in the way of the future peace conference.
Putin, who last week ordered the partial withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria, discussed the peace process with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the phone on Friday.
A fragile cease-fire brokered at the end of last year by Moscow and Ankara has been bolstered somewhat by the negotiations in Astana. The talks there have focussed on implementing four de-escalation zones to stem fighting between government and rebel forces, among other issues.
But both Damascus and the rebel factions have regularly accused one another of violating the cease-fire the zones were intended to bolster.
The second day of the talks in Astana coincided with the anniversary of a devastating and strategically crucial victory by Syrian forces in Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city and once a rebel stronghold, after a blistering Russian-backed offensive.
Since the victory over Aleppo, Damascus has consolidated control over much of the country, wresting territory from extremist factions not party to the truce, particularly the Islamic State Group.
The war in Syria has left more than 340,000 people dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
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Major powers seek to hold Sochi congress for Syria in late January
Major powers seek to hold Sochi congress for Syria in late January
Iran says missile attacks to continue, US talks ‘not on agenda’
- Abbas Araghchi: ‘I don’t think talking with the Americans would be on our agenda anymore’
- Top envoy says Tehran had a “very bitter experience” during previous negotiations with the US
TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign minister said Tuesday that talks with the United States were not on the agenda as their war entered its 11th day.
“I don’t think talking with the Americans would be on our agenda anymore,” Abbas Araghchi told PBS News, saying Tehran had a “very bitter experience” during previous negotiations with the US.
On February 28, the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered a war that has spread across the Middle East.
The Israeli and US attacks took place two days before Washington and Tehran were scheduled to hold talks following three prior rounds of negotiations. Omani mediators in those discussions had said there was “significant progress” in the talks.
Iran has responded to the US-Israeli attacks with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and US interests across the region.
Shipping traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 20 percent of the world’s crude oil usually transits, has been severely disrupted.
Iranian forces have repeatedly targeted oil tankers passing through the strategic waterway since the war began.
In the interview with PBS News, Araghchi insisted that Iran was acting in “self-defense.”
“We are prepared, we have been prepared to continue attacking them with our missiles as long as needed and as long as it takes,” he said.
Late Monday, Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said some countries in the region and elsewhere had reached out to Iran to push for a ceasefire.
“China, Russia and France, and even some countries in the region, are in contact with us,” he told state TV.
“Some of them are willing to do something to stop this war or establish a ceasefire.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said France and its allies are preparing a “defensive” mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Gharibabadi said Iran “did not start the aggression and the war … we are defending ourselves.”
“I don’t think talking with the Americans would be on our agenda anymore,” Abbas Araghchi told PBS News, saying Tehran had a “very bitter experience” during previous negotiations with the US.
On February 28, the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered a war that has spread across the Middle East.
The Israeli and US attacks took place two days before Washington and Tehran were scheduled to hold talks following three prior rounds of negotiations. Omani mediators in those discussions had said there was “significant progress” in the talks.
Iran has responded to the US-Israeli attacks with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and US interests across the region.
Shipping traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 20 percent of the world’s crude oil usually transits, has been severely disrupted.
Iranian forces have repeatedly targeted oil tankers passing through the strategic waterway since the war began.
In the interview with PBS News, Araghchi insisted that Iran was acting in “self-defense.”
“We are prepared, we have been prepared to continue attacking them with our missiles as long as needed and as long as it takes,” he said.
Late Monday, Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said some countries in the region and elsewhere had reached out to Iran to push for a ceasefire.
“China, Russia and France, and even some countries in the region, are in contact with us,” he told state TV.
“Some of them are willing to do something to stop this war or establish a ceasefire.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said France and its allies are preparing a “defensive” mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Gharibabadi said Iran “did not start the aggression and the war … we are defending ourselves.”
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