Russia, Iran and Turkey agree to monitor the fragile ceasefire in Syria
Astana — Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed on Tuesday to monitor a shaky truce in war-torn Syria, but rebels and Damascus made no breakthrough towards a political settlement of the conflict after indirect talks. Moscow, Tehran and Ankara, sponsors of talks in Kazakhstan’s capital, said they would "establish a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance" with the December ceasefire. The three powers also backed participation of rebel groups at a new round of peace talks to be hosted by the UN in Geneva next month. "There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict and ... it can only be solved through a political process," they said in a statement read out by Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov. The two days of talks in Astana, which left the West sidelined, were mainly a Kremlin initiative with Russia the main power broker in Syria and military supporter of the Bashar al-Assad government. The meeting was expected to feature the first face-to-face talks between...
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