The first face-to-face meeting between opposition fighters and Assad terrorists in nearly six years of war ended abruptly on Monday when diplomatic talks quickly devolved into harsh words and competing accusations.
The new round of talks arranged by Russia and Turkey in Astana was meant to showcase Moscow’s increasingly dominant role in the diplomacy and its new understanding with the Turkish government.
After the face-to face-meeting, opposition delegation and Assad terrorists refused to negotiate directly.
Mohammad al-Alloush of the Jaysh al-Islam, in his opening statement, said that what is known as “the Syrian government" is no more than a bloody despotic regime” backed by “vengeful sectarian militias,” and called for it to release what he said were 13,000 women being held as political prisoners and to end starvation sieges. That led to a heated exchange around a large circular table that forced Kazakh officials to call for calm.
Expectations for progress had been low. Many diplomats and analysts say the more meaningful talks are those that have been held in recent months, largely in secret, among Russia, Turkey and Iran.
Most opposition officials describe the goal of the talks in Astana as reaffirming a tenuous ceasefire in order to revive the Geneva talks.
The ceasefire, started in December and known formally as a cessation of hostilities, is largely ignored by Assad and Hezbollah terrorists in Wadi Barada of Damascus and in Homs countryside, Aleppo countryside and Idlib where many civilians have been killed by Assad regime’s barrel bombs and artillery shelling.
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