Putin and Trump Discuss Political Settlement for Syria Ahead of Sochi Summit

Russian president Vladimir Putin discussed a political settlement for Syria in a lengthy phone call with Donald Trump on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reported.

The call came one day before the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran are set to meet in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi for talks aimed at rebooting a political settlement to the conflict.

According to the Kremlin, Putin briefed President Trump on his meeting with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Monday. “The Syrian leader confirmed his commitment to the political process, (and) conducting constitutional reform and presidential and parliamentary elections,” the Kremlin said.

Putin also informed Trump of the “need to keep Syria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity intact,” the statement added. A political settlement, the Russian president said, should be hammered out in an inclusive “internal negotiating process.”

Meanwhile, a statement released by the White House said the two leaders stressed the importance of U.N.-led peace talks in resolving the Syrian conflict, AFP reported.

Putin and Trump also emphasized the need to ensure “the stability of a unified Syria” and implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254, “which calls for a cease-fire and humanitarian access as part of efforts to end the conflict,” the AFP said, citing the White House statement.

Neither the Kremlin nor the White House made any mention of discussions over Assad’s future.

Putin on Tuesday also discussed Syria with a number of other leaders, including Saudi king Salman, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Reuters reported.

“He briefed them on a visit to Russia by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and about Moscow-backed peace efforts, such as [the] planned Russian-Iranian-Turkey summit and a peace congress on Syria,” Reuters said.

U.N. Envoy Urges Unity Among Syrian Opposition During Talks in Riyadh

The U.N.’s special envoy to Syria called on the Syrian opposition on Wednesday to form a unified delegation ahead of upcoming peace talks in Geneva, the Associated Press reported.

Staffan de Mistura was speaking at the opening of a three-day meeting in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, where the Syrian opposition is expected to come up with a unified vision for negotiations in the Swiss city scheduled for November 28.

Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir also delivered opening remarks, saying, “There is no resolution to the crisis without Syrian consensus that achieves the demands of the Syrian people and ends their suffering.”

Wednesday’s meeting comes two days after Riad Hijab, the opposition’s top negotiator, announced his resignation as head of the opposition’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC), citing attempts to force the opposition to come to terms with Assad’s survival.

Tensions Simmer Between Turkey and YPG Over Afrin

Turkey on Wednesday said that “dangers” in the Kurdish-held Syrian region of Afrin should be removed, after a Syrian Kurdish militia on Tuesday accused Turkish forces of “aggression and escalation” in the area.

Turkish defense minister Nurettin Canikli said on Wednesday that there is a “serious danger” in Afrin that should be removed, Reuters reported.

His comments echo a statement by Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, in which he said that Turkey needed to clear the Afrin region of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara has designated as a terrorist group.

“We need to cleanse Afrin of the structure there called the YPG terrorist organization,” Erdogan said.

Turkish forces have deployed in positions adjacent to the region of Afrin as part of a cross-border operation launched last month with the aim of establishing a so-called de-escalation zone in Idlib.

On Monday, Turkey accused the YPG of attacking one of its observation posts, Reuters said.

The YPG responded to the charge on Tuesday by accusing Turkey of “spreading several rumors about our forces attacking Turkish lands.” In a statement, the YPG also accused Ankara of aggression and escalation by claiming that Turkey had fired artillery and machine guns at several villages in Afrin on Monday, Reuters said.

The latest tensions signal the possibility of a confrontation between Kurdish fighters and Turkish troops in northwest Syria.

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