Syrian President Bashar Assad says peace talks next week in the Kazakh capital will focus on enforcing a cessation of hostilities to allow aid access across his war-torn country.
The talks sponsored by regime allies Russia and Iran and rebel backer Turkey begin Monday in Astana, and are expected to last less than a week.
Details on the format of the talks remain murky, but Assad tells Japanese television channel TBS that a stop to fighting would be the priority.
Syrians wave the national flag during a gathering in Aleppo’s Saadallah al-Jabiri Square on January 19, 2017, to express their support for President Bashar Assad. (AFP PHOTO/George OURFALIAN)
“I believe that they will focus, in the beginning, and will prioritise, as we see it, reaching a ceasefire,” Assad says, according to excerpts released by his office.
“This will be to protect people’s lives and allow humanitarian aid to reach various areas in Syria,” he says.
— AFP
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