ASTANA: Russia, Iran and Turkey will hold the next round of talks on Syria's conflict on November 28-29 in the Kazakh capital Astana, Kazakhstan's foreign minister said on Monday.
"The participants plan to discuss the current situation in Syria, in particular in Idlib, creating conditions for the return of refugees and internally displaced people, and post-conflict reconstruction," Kairat Abdrakhmanov said in Astana.
The meeting will be the 11th in the Astana peace process -- set up in early 2017 by Russia and Iran, who support President Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, and opposition backer Turkey.
Abdrakhmanov said representatives of Damascus and armed opposition groups would take part, but did not specify what level of officials from Russia, Iran and Turkey would attend.
The Astana process was launched after Russia's military intervention in Syria tipped the balance in the regime's favour. It has gradually eclipsed an earlier UN-sponsored negotiations framework known as the Geneva process.
This month's meeting comes with continued violence threatening plans for a buffer zone around Idlib, the last major opposition stronghold in Syria.
Russia and Turkey agreed in September to set up the buffer zone to avert a Syrian regime offensive, but jihadists who hold around 70 percent of the area have refused to withdraw.
Fighting in the area has continued, with jihadists on Friday killing 22 regime fighters in an attack on government forces in the northwest of Hama province near the planned zone.
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Turkey, Russia, Iran to hold Syria talks next week
Turkey, Russia, Iran to hold Syria talks next week
Germany charges suspected former Syrian intelligence agent with dozens of murders
- Accused, identified as Fahad A, is suspected of interrogating, torturing and killing inmates in Damascus prison under Bashar Assad
German prosecutors have charged a suspected former member of Syrian intelligence with crimes against humanity and the torture and murder of dozens of prisoners held in a Damascus prison under Bashar Assad, a statement said on Monday.
The accused, who was arrested in May and identified only as Fahad A. under German privacy rules, was suspected of working as a guard in a prison in the Syrian capital between the end of April 2011 and mid-April 2012, it said.
“There, he participated in well over 100 interrogations during which prisoners were subjected to severe physical abuse, such as electric shocks or beatings with cables,” it said.
“On the orders of his superiors, the accused also abused inmates at night, for example by hanging them from the ceiling, dousing them with cold water, or forcing them to remain in uncomfortable positions. As a result of such mistreatment and the catastrophic prison conditions, at least 70 prisoners died.”
German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to seek trials for suspects in crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.
Based on these laws, several people suspected of war crimes during the Syrian conflict have been arrested in the last few years in Germany, which is home to around one million Syrians.
The accused, who was arrested in May and identified only as Fahad A. under German privacy rules, was suspected of working as a guard in a prison in the Syrian capital between the end of April 2011 and mid-April 2012, it said.
“There, he participated in well over 100 interrogations during which prisoners were subjected to severe physical abuse, such as electric shocks or beatings with cables,” it said.
“On the orders of his superiors, the accused also abused inmates at night, for example by hanging them from the ceiling, dousing them with cold water, or forcing them to remain in uncomfortable positions. As a result of such mistreatment and the catastrophic prison conditions, at least 70 prisoners died.”
German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to seek trials for suspects in crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.
Based on these laws, several people suspected of war crimes during the Syrian conflict have been arrested in the last few years in Germany, which is home to around one million Syrians.
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