Yahya al-Aridi

Russia, Iran and Turkey, the sponsors of peace talks between Syrian rebels and Damascus, agreed on Jan. 23 to establish a joint "mechanism" to monitor the frail truce in the war-torn country, at the end of the two-day talks in Kazakh capital Astana.

Turkey, Russia and Iran have reached an agreement to form a three-party mechanism to monitor cease-fire violations in Syria, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Jan. 24.