Ankara, Moscow and Tehran sign deal for Syria ‘safe zones’
TURKEY, Russia and Iran, the main sponsors of the Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan, signed a deal yesterday to create “safe zones” inside the war-torn country in one of the most concrete steps yet to ending the conflict.
Ankara, chief backer of the Syrian opposition, Moscow and Tehran, which provide military support for Bashar al-Assad’s government, agreed to establish four “deconfliction zones” which will be monitored by international troops.
Parts of the rebel delegation, which is not a signatory, stormed out of the room as the document was being signed in the Kazakh capital Astana.
“We are against the division of Syria,” said opposition delegate Osama Abu Zaid. “As for the agreements, we are not a party to that agreement and, of course, we will never be in favour [of it] as long as Iran is called a guarantor state.” The rebels see Shia-majority Iran as responsible for stoking the sectarian nature of the war.
The deal, which is due to be implemented from tomorrow, will see the use of all weapons banned and flights grounded.
It will cover four of the country’s most contested areas: Idlib province, largely controlled by jihadist and other rebels; Eastern Ghouta, a Damascus suburb besieged by government forces; a pocket north of the central city of Homs; and southern Syria along the Jordanian border.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and formerly al-Qa’ida-aligned Hayat Tahrir al-Sham are excluded from the agreement. This means that regime forces can continue to target the groups’ militants.
Turkey has spent months securing a buffer along its border with Syria, in the hope of creating de facto safe areas to which refugees can return. Recep Tayyip Erodgan, the Turkish president, said the deal would see “50pc of the conflict” solved. (©Daily Telegraph, London)