Ankara, Moscow and Tehran sign deal for Syrian ‘safe zones’

TURKEY, Russia and Iran, the main sponsors of the Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan, yesterday signed a deal 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 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; Eastern Ghouta; a pocket north of the central city of Homs; and southern Syria.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and formerly al-Qaeda-aligned Hayat Tah- rir 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 Erdogan, the Turkish president, said the deal would see “50 per cent of the conflict” solved.

Donald Trump, the US president, campaigned for the creation of safe zones throughout his presidential campaign.

The deal was also reached a day after a meeting between Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and Mr Erdogan, reflecting the growing co-operation between nations once deeply at odds over Syria’s conflict.

Kyle Orton, Middle East analyst at the Henry Jackson Society think tank, said he was sceptical of the deal, as like many previous ceasefire agreements there are loop- holes which the government can exploit.

“The same areas can be targeted under the pretext of hitting terrorist targets,” he said.

uIraqi forces opened up a new front in the battle to retake the Isil-held city of Mosul yesterday.

The army is moving in from the north, trying to meet up with the elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) and federal police troops who are painstakingly advancing from the south.