The foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran, and Russia will meet in Doha on Saturday to discuss a lightning rebel advance in Syria, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Friday.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Reuters/Louisa Gouliamaki
The foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran, and Russia will meet in Doha on Saturday to discuss a lightning rebel advance in Syria, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Friday.
Syrian rebels have made their biggest battlefield gains since the civil war began 13 years ago, striking a devastating blow to President Bashar al-Assad.
After years of being locked behind frozen frontlines, the rebels captured the main northern city of Aleppo last week before pushing as far south as the centre of Hama, taking the strategic central city for the first time.
Turkey, Russia and Iran have regularly held talks on Syria's future in a trilateral format as part of what is known as the Astana peace process. While NATO member Turkey backs the political and armed opposition, Russia and Iran support Assad.
The source said the three ministers were expected to meet on the sidelines of the Doha Forum on Saturday within the framework of the Astana process, but did not provide further information.
On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking alongside Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi after their talks in Ankara, said that a new effort would be made to revive the Astana process.
Since the start of the renewed conflict, Ankara has called on Assad to engage with the Syrian people for a political solution. It has denied any involvement in the rebels' operation and said it did not want to see a new migrant wave heading toward its borders.
Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever
Syria’s new administration is reportedly preparing to file a memorandum with international courts seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in compensation from Iran for its role in the country’s devastating 13-year war.
Turkey has decided to allow parliament's pro-Kurdish party to hold talks with militant leader Abdullah Ocalan on his island prison, the pro-government Sabah newspaper reported on Thursday, setting up the first such visit in nearly a decade.
Fourteen members of the Syrian police were killed in an "ambush" by forces loyal to the ousted government in the Tartous countryside, the transitional administration said early on Thursday, as demonstrations and an overnight curfew elsewhere marked the most widespread unrest since Bashar al-Assad's removal more than two weeks ago.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.