Organized by Turkey, Russia and Iran, the talks come a month after the regime recaptured rebel areas of Aleppo, scoring its biggest victory since the war began. UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on Sunday hailed the Astana talks as a “good initiative,” in comments carried by Russian news agencies. ‘National reconciliation’Russia’s special envoy on Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, told Russian news agencies Sunday that the format of the talks was still under discussion. The 10-member government delegation, headed by UN ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari, also arrived on Sunday, Syrian state television reported. The Astana talks will be a major test of this new partnership.

Source: Manila Times January 23, 2017 13:05 UTC