Syrian peace process

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Monday that Russia, Turkey and Iran had discussed a possible meeting of their foreign ministers on Syria, which could be held in Kazakhstan's Astana in March, the TASS news agency reported.

Bogdanov also warned against escalation in the Middle East after Israeli strikes on Syria, the RIA news agency said.

A convoy of Turkish Armed Forces on Feb. 5 moved to the fourth observation point in Syria’s Idlib, the establishment of which accords with the Astana agreement.

Turkey has urged the U.N. Special Representative for Syria Staffan de Mistura not to invite any representative from the Democratic Union Party (PYD) to the committee that will be formed to establish a new constitution for Syria.

A proposal to form a constitutional committee was agreed on Tuesday at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in the Russian city of Sochi, organized by Ankara, Tehran, and Moscow, Anadolu Agency reports.

Parties at the two-day congress said in a final statement they wanted to bring an end to the ongoing conflict in the region as soon as possible.

The United Nations embarked on fresh efforts on Jan. 25 to jump-start Syrian peace talks that Western countries and the opposition fear are being undermined by a separate Russian diplomatic push.

U.N.-brokered peace talks with the Syrian government and opposition began in Vienna on Thursday, days before Syria's close ally Russia was due to host separate negotiations to end the war.

The Syrian government will attend U.N.-sponsored peace talks set to take place in Vienna next week, the United Nations deputy Syria envoy said on Thursday, quoted by Reuters.

Russia, Iran and Turkey have announced that a fourth track of peace talks will open in Sochi in January 2018. Both the UN and the Syrian opposition have acknowledged the new peace push without embracing it, Deutsche Wellewrites.

The UN envoy for Syria acknowledged on Dec. 14 that the latest round of peace talks for the war-ravaged country had failed, and blamed Damascus for the “golden opportunity missed.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 11 he wanted to work with Iran and Turkey to kick-start the Syrian peace process during a surprise visit to the war-torn country, Russian news agencies reported.