Different takes on the results of the latest Syrian peace talks

After 10 days of intense talks between different Syrian factions and the UN mediators, UN Syrian Envoy Stephan de Mistura announced the end of the current round of the talks, saying that the sides had reached a “clear agenda” on how to continue the diplomatic process.

کد خبر: ۶۷۳۶۶۵

تاریخ: ۱۴ اسفند ۱۳۹۵ - ۱۶:۳۸

Tabnak - After 10 days of intense talks between different Syrian factions and the UN mediators, UN Syrian Envoy Stephan de Mistura announced the end of the current round of the talks, saying that the sides had reached a "clear agenda” on how to continue the diplomatic process.

According to de Mistura, discussions of counterterrorism and security had been added to the list of topics to be addressed on the agenda to end the Syrian war, which is about to enter its seventh year. "I think and believe we have a clear agenda now in front of us,” de Mistura told a news conference in Geneva.

The UN diplomat stressed that the strategy for combating terrorism would be at the core of another round of peace negotiations between representatives of the Syrian government and those of the armed opposition groups later this month.

De Mistura also said the upcoming talks should cover maintaining a nationwide ceasefire, "security governance, immediate confidence-building measures" and "operational counter-terrorism issues," adding that he felt "comfortable” that all sides could "live with” the Geneva agenda.

According to a report published by "Press-TV”, the UN special envoy reiterated that the negotiations should facilitate humanitarian access to the Arab country, adding that he would travel to New York in the next few days to brief UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the outcome of the talks, dubbed Geneva 4.

In analyzing the results of the latest round of Syrian talks, different viewpoints have been raised. In an analytical report, independent Arab newspaper "Raay al-Yaum” wrote that the Syrian delegation managed to gain an important achievement in Geneva, because it could convince the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee (HNC) to denounce the terrorist acts against the Syrian army headquarters in Homs.

"Anyone who thinks that after eight days of indirect talks between the government and the opposition, Geneva 4 negotiations did not bear any fruits regarding its agenda is making a mistake,” the newspaper wrote, adding that "it is because the recent round of the talks was not planned to cause a great upheaval, but it was for normalizing the relations between the involved sides, taking time and raising some issues”.

Iranian news agency "Tasnim” presents a more cautious conclusion of the talks, noting that before the complete establishment of the new US administration, determining the fate of Manbij and Raqqa, the way Kurds would participate in the talks and adopting a clear policy by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, it is hard to be hopeful to the results of the Geneva talks.

However, it further says that by holding the Astana talks, the results of which were forming and establishing a nation-wide ceasefire, devising a measure for monitoring the ceasefire and also direct negotiations between different Syrian delegations, the ground would be more favorable to gain a result from the talks, comparing to the previous rounds.

It should be noted that HNC which serves as an umbrella group for militants and opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the peace talks, announced that it had accepted the 12-point agenda given to delegates by the UN special envoy.

Nasser al-Hariri, the head of the HNC, added that this round of talks had "more positive" results than the previous diplomatic efforts, arguing that issues related to political transition had been discussed in depth.