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Russia, Iran and Turkey push for Syria peace plan without US or UN

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Russia, Iran and Turkey have said they are ready to help broker a peace deal for Syria. After talks in Moscow, the three countries’ fore...

Russia, Iran and Turkey have said they are ready to help broker a peace deal for Syria. After talks in Moscow, the three countries’ foreign ministers expressed confidence they could revive the stalled peace process. They also plan to try to expand a ceasefire. The United States was notably absent from the meeting. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: “Iran, Russian and Turkey express their readiness to act in favour and become guarantors of the agreement that is being prepared and negotiated at the moment by the Syrian government and opposition. The three call on all the other countries that have influence on the situation on the ground to do the same.” His Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif added: “We need to find a political solution, which supports the principles of respect of the territory’s sovereignty and of Syria’s national unity. So we have to accept the reality, which is that the only solution to ending the war is a political solution.” Turkish complications Ankara’s position is complicated as it supports some insurgents trying to bring down Syria’s President Bashir al Assad. The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s position is that all sides should cease fire but the talks cannot involve what he called terrorist groups like Islamic State and the former Al Qaeda group Fatah al-Sham. He also spoke of Lebanon’s Hezbollah which backs the Assad government, implying Damascus should use its influence. Russia’s Sergey Lavrov pointed out that some groups operating in Syria “were invited by the government of Bashar al Assad”. Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran “respects” Turkey’s stance, but he added that “other countries don’t accept” it. The next step is a new series of Syrian peace negotiations without the involvement of the United States or the United Nations to be held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, a close Russian ally. “Dead end” Lavrov informed US Secretary of State John Kerry in a telephone call about the results of talks in Moscow, the Russian foreign ministry said. The Russian foreign ministry also said in its statement that UN-brokered negotiations in Geneva on the Syrian crisis had hit a dead end due to ultimatums from the Syrian opposition in exile. The US said that it was not worried about being left out of the discussion. A State Department spokesman said it welcomed any solutions that “lead to a reduction in bloodshed… whether or not we’re at the table”. The move underlines the growing strength of Moscow’s links with Tehran and Ankara and reflects President Vladimir Putin’s desire to cement his country’s growing influence in the Middle East and more widely. It also shows how fed up Russia is with what it sees as long and pointless talks with the Obama administration over Syria. Foreign Minister Lavrov last week dismissed those talks as “fruitless sitting around”. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who held parallel talks with his Iranian and Turkish opposite numbers, said afterwards: “All previous attempts by the United States and its partners to agree on coordinated actions were doomed to failure. None of them wielded real influence over the situation on the ground.” Less

UN sends in more observers of “complicated” Aleppo evacuation

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The evacuation of civilians and rebel fighters from eastern Aleppo could be completed within two days according to Turkey which helped media...

The evacuation of civilians and rebel fighters from eastern Aleppo could be completed within two days according to Turkey which helped mediate the exodus. But with yet another interruption reported that could be unrealistic. The operation is being further complicated by unreliable figures of who has left and who is still in the city. Numbers Estimates of those who have been evacuated range from 37,000 according to Turkish officials, to only 25,000 (Red Cross figures.) A rebel official said even after vast numbers left Aleppo on Monday, only about half of the civilians who wanted to leave had done so. The UN which says more than 40,000 civilians and 10,000 rebels are still in the city, is to send 20 more staff to monitor the evacuation. The move was authorised by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “We have had for several days already a monitoring mechanism. We have had people at the Ramussa crossing as you know, who’ve been able to observe what went on, and we do believe that this presence provide protection,” UN Humanitarian spokesman Jens Laerke explained. Ordered to leave The Syrian army has reportedly called on the last remaining rebels to leave eastern districts of Aleppo. Soldiers broadcast messages by loudspeaker on Tuesday (Dec 20), warning that they would soon enter the areas. But insurgent fighters have said they will only leave once all the civilians who wanted to go had departed. Diplomacy Turkey is also attending three-way talks in Russia with Iran. Their respective foreign and defence ministers have adopted a document called the “Moscow Declaration” setting out principles that any peace agreement should follow. They also backed an expanded ceasefire in Syria. UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has also said he wants to reconvene peace talks in Geneva in February. The last round of UN-backed exploratory talks in Geneva, in March 2016, collapsed amid an intensification in fighting. Last remaining rebels and civilians await Aleppo evacuation. https://t.co/0JiDVFKiA4— The Associated Press (@AP) December 20, 2016 Less

With Aleppo battle won, Syria and Russia look to ‘next stage’

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The rubble of war is being cleared from the streets of eastern Aleppo, after the last groups of rebels were removed from the city this week....

Assad makes Christmas visit to orphaned children

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma visited orphaned children at the Saidnaya monastery on Sunday. At the monastery, Assad w...

Clashes continue but Syrian ceasefire appears to hold in civilian areas

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The fighting may be over in Aleppo and the Russian and Turkish architects of the Syrian ceasefire may be contemplating an end to the country...

Syria’s Assad ‘ready to negotiate everything’, if conditions are met

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said the government is ready to negotiate on everything, including his position as president. Howeve...

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said the government is ready to negotiate on everything, including his position as president. However, he insisted this would have to be decided by all Syrians, by way of a referendum on the constitution. “Yeah, but my position is related to the constitution,” he said in an interview with various French media. “And the constitution is very clear about the mechanism in which you can bring a president or get rid of a president. So if they want to discuss this point, they have to discuss the constitution, and the constitution is not owned by the government or the president or by the opposition; it should be owned by the Syrian people, so you need a referendum for every constitution.” “The Syrian people should bring a president, not part of the Syrian people.” Assad’s allies, Russia and Iran, and Turkey, which has been supporting some opposition rebel groups in the devastating civil war, are sponsoring peace talks on Syria expected to be held in the Kazakh capital Astana later in January. Previous peace discussions have come to a halt over the question of Assad’s future. Opposition groups have consistently insisted he must leave before any reforms can be agreed upon. The US has not been invited to participate in the Astana talks and the president has dismissed rebel groups backed by the likes of Saudi Arabia, France and the UK. “Who’s going to be there from the other side? We don’t know, yet. Is it going to be real Syrian opposition – and when I say “real” it means has grassroots in Syria, not Saudi one or French one or British one – it should be Syrian opposition to discuss the Syrian issues. So, the viability or, let’s say, the success of that conference will depend on that point.” Eastern Aleppo Assad also said the bombing of eastern Aleppo, which the UN says could have amounted to a war crime, was justified. Tens of thousands of civilians were displaced in an uncompromising military campaign by government troops. Assad’s forces retook the area in December, 2016, after more than four years under rebel control. He said they were forced to “liberate” the city. “I have not heard in the history of a good war, every war is bad. But the question is how can you liberate the civilians in those areas from the terrorists? Is it better to leave them under their supervision, under their oppression under their fate defined by those terrorists by beheading, by killing by everything, but not having a state?” Less

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