Experts meet in Kazakhstan’s Astana to discuss Syria ceasefire

A meeting of experts from Turkey, Russia and Iran took place Monday in the Kazakh capital Astana to discuss the implementation of the ceasefire in Syria, Turkish and Russian media reported.

The meeting tackled technical issues regarding the Syria ceasefire. It brought together experts from Turkey, Russia and Iran, who agreed last month to create a ceasefire monitoring group to monitor breaches of the declared ceasefire and to minimize truce violations. Representative of the UN and Jordan also attended the meeting.

The outcome of Astana talks, which were held on January 23-24, was an agreement on a trilateral mechanism between Turkey, Russian and Iran for observing and ensuring compliance with a ceasefire that came into effect on December 30. The ceasefire saw many violations by Assad regime and allied foreign militias.

Earlier, UN Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, announced postponing the next round of the Geneva talks to "give a chance to this Astana initiative to actually implement itself." The talks, which were expected to be held in early February, are now said to be scheduled for February 20.