Russia, Turkey, Iran to hold next round of Syria talks: Kazakh FM

ASTANA

Russia, Turkey, and Iran will hold the next round of talks on Syria on Nov. 28-29 in the Kazakh capital Astana, Kazakh foreign minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said on Nov. 19.

Delegations of the Damascus government and the Syrian opposition forces are also set to attend, Abdrakhmanov told reporters.

He also said that the United Nations and Jordan were invited as observers.

The November talks is the eleventh conference organized by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran, including nine held in Astana.

The main result of the meetings was the creation of de-escalation zones.

The first meeting in the Astana format for reaching a cease-fire in Syria was held in January 2017, and the last meeting was held in the Russian city of Sochi on July 30-31.

During the latest meeting, Russia, Iran and Turkey — the three Syrian ceasefire guarantor states — agreed to set up a working group on the release of detainees and adopted a statement on humanitarian mine clearance.

Syria’s war has killed more than 360,000 people since it started in 2011 with the police crackdown on anti-government protests.

The Syrian government has regained control over the majority of the country’s territory since the Russian military intervened in 2015, backing President Bashar al-Assad’s government.