Daily Times

ASTANA: The Syrian government and rebels on Monday will sit down at the negotiating table for the first time in nearly six years of war.

Hosted in the Kazakh capital Astana, the talks will see an opposition delegation composed exclusively of rebel groups negotiating with the regime of Bashar al-Assad in an initiative sponsored by rebel backer Turkey and regime allies Russia and Iran.

Though the talks have been welcomed by all parties in the conflict, delegates from both sides are heading to Kazakhstan with apparently opposing ideas about the goals, with Assad insisting on Thursday that rebels lay down their arms in exchange for an amnesty deal.

Although Assad said the talks would prioritise reaching a ceasefire, Damascus has insisted it will seek a “comprehensive” political solution to the conflict that has killed more than 300,000 and displaced over half of the country’s population.

The rebels meanwhile say they will focus solely on reinforcing a frail nationwide truce brokered by Moscow and Ankara last month.

Moscow said this week that the objective was to “consolidate” the ceasefire and to involve rebel field commanders in the “political process” to end the bloodshed, creating a basis for a new round of UN-hosted negotiations in Geneva next month.

Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari, an experienced negotiator involved in past failed talks in Geneva, will head the regime delegation in Astana.

The United Nations’ peace envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will also attend, alongside representatives of Russia, Turkey and Iran.

Mohammad Alloush of the Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) rebel group — whose rebel commander cousin Zahran Alloush was killed in an air strike claimed by the regime in December 2015 — will lead a “military delegation” of around eight people.

They will be backed by nine legal and political advisors from the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) umbrella group.

But key rebel group Ahrar al-Sham said it would snub the Astana talks over ceasefire violations and ongoing Russian air strikes on the country.

Ahrar al-Sham nonetheless said it would support decisions taken by other rebel groups represented at the talks if they were “in the interest of the nation”.

The talks come a month after the Syrian regime took full control of Aleppo from rebels in its biggest victory in more than four years of fighting.