Members of the Syrian opposition delegation arrived Sunday in the Kazakh capital Astana for face-to-face peace talks with the national government.
The talks, set to begin on Monday, will be the first time a delegation composed exclusively of armed groups will negotiate with the government delegation.
Chief opposition negotiator Mohammad Alloush flew into Astana on Sunday morning, according to an AFP correspondent who saw the delegation arrive.
He was accompanied by around a dozen rebel figures, including Fares Buyush of the Idlib Army, Hassan Ibrahim of the Southern Front and Mamoun Hajj Moussa of Suqur al-Sham.
A source close to the opposition’s team told AFP that the delegation had been broadened from eight armed groups figures to a total of 14, in addition to 21 legal and political advisers.
The 10-member government delegation, headed by its UN ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari, left Damascus on Sunday, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.
Armed groups have insisted the talks will focus solely on reinforcing a frail nationwide truce brokered by opposition supporter Turkey and Russia last month.
Although the two countries have backed opposing sides of Syria’s nearly six-year conflict, they have worked hand-in-hand in recent weeks to secure an end to the brutal war that has killed more than 300,000.
The Astana talks, which Iran is also helping organise, will be the first test of this new partnership.
UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on Sunday hailed the talks as a “good initiative” in comments carried by Russian news agencies.
Source: AFP
