U.S. Attendance at Kazakhstan Peace Talks Disputed

The Iranian and Syrian governments have voiced their respective opposition to the United States and the Gulf countries participating in peace talks scheduled for next week, according to Reuters.

Speaking of the potential U.S. attendance at the negotiations, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday that, “we have not invited them, and we are against their presence,” according to the Tasnim news agency.

The statement came after Russia and Turkey decided to invite Washington to attend the talks, set to begin on Monday in the Kazakh capital of Astana.

In a separate statement on Wednesday, Syria’s deputy foreign minister Faisal Meqdad rejected the participation of Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“Once Qatar and Saudi Arabia halt their support for terrorism, we will discuss the matter of their participation in the talks,” Meqdad was quoted as saying by the Lebanon-based TV station Al-Mayadeen.

ISIS Gains in Government Areas of Deir Ezzor

The so-called Islamic State group (ISIS) has severed a supply route to a Syrian military air base in Deir Ezzor and cut the government’s enclave in the eastern city in half, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Some 200,000 civilians are trapped in areas that were cut off from the military air base, a key supplier of equipment and aid for residents.

At least 122 people have been killed since the militants began their offensive on Saturday, including at least 38 civilians, 36 pro-government fighters and 58 ISIS combatants, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Russia and Syria have been pushing back the offensive with heavy airstrikes and shelling in the city and its surrounding countryside. ISIS has controlled most of Deir Ezzor province since 2015, but the government has maintained control of the airport and nearby neighborhoods.

U.S. Carries Out Airstrikes in al-Bab

The United States carried out airstrikes on ISIS targets near the Syrian town of al-Bab, the U.S. military said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Both the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS and Turkey – which is carrying out its own operation against militants in the area – benefited from the strikes.

“We saw a window of opportunity where it was in our mutual interest to get those targets destroyed,” said U.S. Air Force colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition based in Baghdad, at a press briefing.

He added that the U.S. military worked with Turkey to identify targets and that “this is something we expect to continue doing. We strike (ISIS) targets anywhere in Syria or Iraq that they can be found.”

Last week, the Syrian government joined Turkey in carrying out airstrikes against ISIS targets near al-Bab, which lies in eastern Aleppo province.

RECOMMENDED READS:

• The Guardian: Islamic State Surrounds Military Airport in Deir Ezzor, Eastern Syria
• CNN: Inside Rebel-Held Syria, Where Children Beg to Die
• The National: Friction Deepens Among Al-Qaida Factions in Syria
• The Washington Post: Iran Opposes U.S. Participation in Russian-backed Syria Talks
• The New York Times: Obama’s Stark Options on ISIS: Arm Syrian Kurds or Let Trump Decide