Seventh Round of Peace Talks Held in Kazakh Capital

Representatives of the Syrian government and some armed opposition groups met in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Monday for a new round of Russian-sponsored peace talks, Agence France-Presse reported.

Representatives from Iran, Turkey and Russia are also part of the seventh round of negotiations, which are expected to focus on hammering out the details of the so-called de-escalation zone agreement in Syria.

Russia’s chief negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev told reporters after Monday’s meetings that he was confident that a political settlement to the Syrian war was possible, according to AFP.

“[Assad] has confirmed his readiness for … the preparation of a new constitution and the holding of new parliamentary and presidential elections on this basis,” Lavrentyev said on Monday.

He also said Moscow is ready to host a congress of all Syrian groups within a month, with the goal of working on a political settlement and a new constitution. The precise date and location of the congress would be determined in Astana, he added, hinting that it may be held in Russia’s Hmeimim air base in Syria.

The Russian negotiator explained that the congress would focus on seeking “compromise solutions towards the political settlement” of the conflict, according to Reuters.

Citing the Russian RIA news agency, Reuters said that the Russian-backed congress, first proposed by President Vladimir Putin earlier this month, may be held in mid-November at Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Aid Reaches Two Towns in Eastern Ghouta for First Time in Over a Year

Food and medical supplies reached some 40,000 people in the besieged Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus on Monday, Reuters reported.

A convoy of trucks from the U.N. and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent entered the towns of Kafr Batna and Saqba for the first time since June 2016.

Citing a local health worker, Reuters said that nine trucks of foodstuffs, including milk and peanut butter, and four trucks of medicines had arrived so far. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent said on Monday that the convoy included some 49 trucks.

“More aid to complement today’s delivery is planned in the coming days,” Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, was quoted as saying.

Bettina Luescher, a spokesperson for the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), said the convoy carried nutrition supplies for 16,000 children.

The deliveries come days after international humanitarian organizations expressed alarm over deteriorating conditions in the besieged suburbs.

U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein on Friday called for food and medicine to be delivered to trapped residents, saying that the deliberate starvation of civilians amounted to a crime against humanity.

U.N. Calls for Access to Rukban Camp

A senior U.N. official on Monday called on the Security Council to provide immediate life-saving access to 50,000 displaced people stranded near Syria’s border with Jordan, the Associated Press reported.

“As limited commercial supplies are reaching Rukban, access to food is precarious and the overall situation remains dire,” Mark Lowcock, under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said.

“Immediate access to enable life-saving assistance for the civilian population is critical.”

Humanitarian organizations and the United Nations have had only limited access to the Rukban camp in the berm between Jordan and Syria since its formation.

Last year, however, the deteriorating security situation near the border between the two states completely cut off their access, leaving residents almost wholly dependent on sporadic cross-border deliveries from Jordan. However, these too may stop after Jordan said this month that all aid to Rukban must go through Syria, and not across the border from Jordan.

“The best approach is to find a solution from within Syria,” Lowcock told the Security Council on Monday, in an apparent shift after months of largely unsuccessful talks between the U.N. and Jordan over access to the camp.

According to UNHCR, the last partial aid delivery took place between May and June but reached only 35,000 of the camp’s estimated population of 50,000.

Recommended Reads

• Foreign Affairs: Syria’s Extremist Opposition
• Agence France-Presse: Assad Regime Wins Ground, but Political Fights Ahead
• Al Jazeera: Salvaging Bodies: A Doctor’s Everyday Reality in Syria
• Human Rights Watch: Russia/Syria: Deadly Airstrikes on Trapped Civilians
• Al-Monitor: Kurdish Crisis Imperils U.S. Anti-Terror Fight in Syria