UN calls for political solution to end terrorism in Syria
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has underlined the need for a political solution supported by the Syrian people to end terrorism and extremism in the Arab country.
Guterres made the remarks in Istanbul on Saturday during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Guterres also expressed gratitude over a peace meeting held between the Syrian government and opposition in the Kazakh capital of Astana.
On January 23-24, Astana hosted Syrian talks organized by Iran, Russia and Turkey, with the presence of representatives of the Syrian government and opposition groups.
The Kazakh Foreign Ministry said in a Saturday statement that delegations from the Syrian government and opposition as well as UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura have been invited to the next round of Astana talks on February 15-16.
The meeting will discuss the implementation of the ceasefire in Syria, measures to stabilize situation in particular areas, adoption of rules for a joint operational group and further measures to consolidate the ceasefire, the statement noted.
At the end of the January talks in Astana, Tehran, Moscow and Ankara agreed on the establishment of a trilateral mechanism to support the ceasefire in Damascus.
Experts from the three countries and the United Nations also held a technical meeting behind closed doors in Astana on February 6 on the implementation of the ceasefire across Syria.
The nationwide ceasefire, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey with the support of Iran in December 2016, is the extended version of an earlier truce that ended years of fighting in the city of Aleppo and put the strategic city back under Damascus control.
Meanwhile, Syria’s warring sides will resume their UN-brokered talks in the Swiss city of Geneva on February 20.
The Geneva talks were originally planned to take place on February 8, but the United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said he had rescheduled them to take further advantage of the fruits of the Astana discussions.
Over the past almost six years, Syria has been fighting foreign-sponsored militancy. The UN special envoy for Syria estimated in August last year that more than 400,000 people had been killed in the crisis until then.
The UN has stopped its official casualty count in the war-torn country, citing its inability to verify the figures it receives from various sources.
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