Latest Syria peace talks solidify final de-escalation zone
Russia, Turkey and Iran met with opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to ink an agreement on the four safe zones.
The long-awaited sixth round of Syrian peace talks produced a signed agreement delineating the four de-escalation zones in the country, which has been torn apart by civil war since 2011.
The talks, held Sept. 14-15 in Astana, Kazakhstan, went smoothly for the most part. For the first time, the Sunni Salafist militant group Ahrar al-Sham agreed to come to Kazakhstan. Previously, the opposition faction had always declined to participate, yet ensured its indirect representation through the presence of the Alwiyat Suqour al-Sham faction.
The participants were able to finalize the fourth zone, in Idlib. The other zones are in Homs; southern Syria; and eastern Ghouta on the Jordanian border. Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed to act as guarantors of the cease-fire.
In August, the talks had been scheduled several times only to be postponed again and again. This time, everyone waited expectantly to see details of the fourth zone, which is designed to weaken the radical coalition of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). In addition to Idlib, the zone will include parts of Idlib’s neighboring provinces of Latakia, Hama and Aleppo.
