Russia, Turkey, Iran eye Syria ceasefire implementation in Astana

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

Astana hosts a technical meeting of experts from Russia, Turkey, Iran and the United Nations, which will discuss in detail the implementation of the Syrian ceasefire agreement.

Representatives of Jordan are taking part for the first time, RIA Novosti reported with the reference to an informed source.

The source said the agenda included reviewing the implementation of the cessation of hostilities, discussing a proposal from the Syrian armed opposition about the ceasefire, and determining options about how to implement it.

"This is about creating a mechanism to control the implementation of the ceasefire," the source said.

Russian Defense Ministry said earlier that such meetings will be taking place in Astana on a regular basis.

The first Astana talks on Syrian settlement brokered by Russia, Turkey, and Iran took place in the Kazakh capital on January 23- 24. They marked the first time since the beginning of Syrian civil war in 2011 when the government of Syria and the armed opposition sat together at the negotiations table.

In a joint statement of Russia, Iran and Turkey issued following the Astana talks, the countries agreed to create a trilateral group on monitoring the Syrian ceasefire.

Many experts assessed the agreement between Russia, Turkey, and Iran on the establishment of a tripartite mechanism as a step to a political solution which might end the six-year war.

Armed conflict continues in Syria since March 2011. Government troops are confronted by militants of different armed groups. Russia has begun airstrikes on terrorist facilities in Syria since 30 September 2015. The Russian military involvement follows an official request from President Bashar Assad to President Vladimir Putin.

The U.N. has repeatedly tried and failed to end the Syrian conflict, which has killed 300,000 and displaced 11 million since its beginning 6 years ago.