Divisions loom in aftermath of Syrian war

A SECOND round of Turkish-Russian-backed Syrian peace talks started in the Kazakh capital, Astana yesterday and are expected to conclude today.

But just as it appeared possible that the six-year-old Syrian civil war could be entering its final chapter, cracks in the coalition are widening with the assortment of players having vastly differing geopolitical endgames and strategies, only united in their common goal of defeating the Islamic State (IS).

The pressure on the talks was further stepped up by comments from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein.

He yesterday called for the release of tens of thousands of detainees held in Syria’s prisons and said that bringing perpetrators of crimes including torture to court was vital for a lasting peace.

“Today in a sense the entire country has become a torture-chamber; a place of savage horror and absolute injustice,” al-Hussein told the UN Human Rights Council.

Similar to the coalition war in Mosul, in neighbouring Iraq, the defeat of the militants in Syria is a matter of when, not if, say analysts. But the real stakes will be raised when the political aftermath of the battle has to be addressed.

The first significant setback occurred when Syrian opposition rebel groups stated on Monday they would not take part in the Istana talks after blaming Russia for continued air strikes against civilians in rebel-held areas of the country and Moscow’s failure to put pressure on the Syrian military to abide by the ceasefire, Al Jazeera reported.

In addition to their absence, further complicating Syria’s future is the shifting alliances of the regional and international backers of the war which they are helping fight by proxy.

Under President Donald Trump’s new US administration, the relationship between Russia and the US has warmed up significantly – with regional power Turkey now the odd one out in the two’s company, three’s a crowd, axis.