Key powers fail to nail down Syria safe zones plan
Russian bombers fire cruise missiles at Daesh targets
ASTANA: Powerbrokers Russia, Turkey and Iran failed Wednesday to iron out the details of four safe zones in war-torn Syria after two days of peace talks in Kazakhstan.
Moscow and Tehran, which back Syrian President Bashar Assad, and opposition supporter Ankara agreed in May to establish four “de-escalation” zones in a potential breakthrough after more than six years of fighting that has claimed more than 320,000 lives.
While fighting dropped off in the weeks after the deal, it has since returned in several areas, and the international players have yet to agree the exact boundaries of the zones or determine who will police them.
Chief Russian negotiator Alexander Lavrentiev said seven documents outlining how the zones should work “need finalizing” despite being “essentially agreed” between the three key powerbrokers in Astana.
“We have not yet managed directly to establish the de-escalation zones,” Lavrentiev said, insisting however that “de facto” safe zones already exist on the ground.
Lavrentiev said that the borders of two zones — covering opposition-held parts of Homs province and Eastern Ghouta near Damascus — have been agreed in principle.
One major stumbling block appears to be over who will ensure security in all four areas, with Turkey and Iran in particular reportedly wrangling to bolster their influence.
Lavrentiev said that it had been agreed that Russian military police carrying light weapons would be involved in patrolling buffer areas around some of the zones.
He also accepted that a zone meant to cover swathes of southern Syria would likely need to involve the US and Jordan in some capacity.
A source close to the Syrian opposition delegation that attended the talks told AFP that they would refuse a proposal to have Iran monitor the safe zone in central Homs province.
Turkish and Russian forces are likely to be deployed in the northern de-escalation zone’s “buffer territory, separating the opposition and regime” in parts of Idlib and neighboring Aleppo province, the source suggested.
The lack of progress shows how tough the going has been for Moscow as it pushes the Astana talks in a bid to turn its gamechanging intervention on the side of Assad into a concerted push to pacify Syria.
A working group of experts from Russia, Iran and Turkey is set to meet in Tehran on Aug. 1-2 to try to thrash out the details, before another round of meetings in Astana later that month.
The talks in Astana have largely seen the West sidelined, but they are intended to complement broader political negotiations the UN is backing in Geneva, which are due to restart next week.
Talking in Astana, UN Syria Envoy Staffan de Mistura said there had been “small progress” in the work on de-escalating the conflict and called for “progress on the political side.”
Russia has argued the zones agreement will provide moderate opposition fighters with security and help focus attacks against radical groups such as former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh Al-Sham Front and Daesh.
In another development, Russian strategic bombers on Wednesday struck Daesh in Syria with cruise missiles, the military said.
The Defense Ministry said that Tu-95 bombers launched Kh-101 cruise missiles on Daesh facilities in the area along the boundary between the Syrian provinces of Hama and Homs. The ministry said three ammunition depots and a command facility near the town of Aqirbat were destroyed.
It said the bombers flew from their base in southwestern Russia and launched the missiles at a distance of 1,000 km from the target.