A fresh round of Syrian peace talks is scheduled for next week in Astana, AFP reported Monday (December 11th).
The two-day talks in Astana will begin December 21st and will focus on freeing prisoners, the delivery of humanitarian aid, the functioning of de-escalation zones and other issues, the Kazakh foreign ministry said in a statement.
Nearly all of the seven rounds of Syria negotiations in Astana have involved representatives of the Syrian regime and the armed opposition, as well as Russia, Iran and Turkey.
Moscow has spearheaded the talks in Astana since the start of the year as it tries to turn its military intervention into a negotiated settlement.
Both Russia and Iran have thrown their support behind the Syrian regime, while Turkey has provided backing to the opposition.
The negotiations, which run in parallel to broader UN-backed talks in Geneva, involved armed opposition fighters and regime officials and have focused mainly on military issues.
