Kazakh capital set to host fresh round of Syria peace talks

Kazakhstan is set to host a fresh round of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition aimed at ending the years-long foreign-backed militancy in the West Asian country.

Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi announced on Thursday that the next meeting on Syria will be held in the capital Nur-Sultan in mid-December, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

The top Kazakh diplomat said that the meeting would bring together the guarantors of the Astana process namely Iran, Russia and Turkey.

"The guarantor countries have asked us to organize the next round of the Astana process. Its dates are still under consideration, it will be around mid-December," the foreign minister said.

"We are currently trying to determine (the level of the talks), deputy foreign ministers usually represent the guarantor countries," he added.

This would be the 17th round of talks between the Syrian government and the foreign-backed opposition in Kazakhstan.

The 16th international high-level meeting on Syria, which took place in the Kazakh capital in July, involved delegations of the guarantor countries, the Syrian government and the armed opposition.

The talks are moderated by Russia and Iran - as allies of the Syrian government - and Turkey, which sides with the opposition.

The trio, in the earlier round of talks, agreed on the establishment of a mechanism to support the truce, underlined the importance of maintaining the national sovereignty of Syria, and stressed that there was no military solution to the conflict in the Arab country.

The Astana negotiations, which were also attended by the UN special envoy on Syria, had focused mostly on bolstering a Syria-wide ceasefire that has been in place since December 30, 2016.

SS