Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 2
By Kamila Aliyeva – Trend:
The next high-level international meeting on Syria within the framework of the Astana process will be held on Sept. 14-15 in Astana, according to the information published on the website of Kazakh Foreign Ministry.
The agenda of the forthcoming meeting includes consideration of a number of documents regulating the activity of the control forces of de-escalation as well as continuation of work on coordinating the composition of the control forces in Idlib
The participants intend to approve maps of de-escalation zones in the provinces of Idlib, Homs and East Gut, draft regulations on the Coordination Center, the working group on the release of detainees/hostages, the transfer of dead bodies and the search for missing persons, according to the guarantor countries.
The sides are expected to adopt a joint statement on the humanitarian demining of historical monuments in Syria included in the UNESCO World Heritage list and discuss other issues of mutual interest.
The guarantor countries also plan to hold a meeting of the Joint Working Group Sept. 13.
To date, five rounds of negotiations on the ongoing Syrian conflict were held in Astana. Guarantors of a nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime - Russia, Turkey and Iran - had agreed on May 4 in the Kazakh capital, Astana, to establish "de-escalation zones" in war-torn Syria. The zones would cover the city of Idlib and certain parts of Latakia, Homs, Aleppo and Hama as well as Damascus, Eastern Ghouta, Daraa and Quneitra.
Syria has been locked in civil war since March 2011. According to UN's special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, around 400,000 people have died in the conflict while half the population has been driven from their homes.