The only concrete outcome from the third round of talks in Astana was an agreement between Russia, Turkey and Iran, who are sponsoring the negotiations, to meet again in early May, according to a joint statement. The rebels, who attended the previous rounds in the Kazakh capital refused to join this week's talks, accusing Russia of failing to uphold December's shaky ceasefire. "We did not discuss this at all," Bashar al-Ja'afari, head of the Syrian government delegation, told reporters. The Kazakh talks come at a time when Turkey, which backs the rebels, and Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, each want to disentangle themselves from the fighting. Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed to hold the next meeting in Astana on May 3 and 4.

Source: Egypt Independent March 15, 2017 16:18 UTC