In a press conference on the sidelines of Astana talks on Tuesday, al-Jaafari added “we held talks with the Russian delegation on the agenda of 3rd Astana and we discussed the political situation in a comprehensive way.”
He indicated that the topic of separating the opposition from the terrorists will be on the top of the issues that will be discussed in the 3rd Astana, saying “we didn’t discuss with Russia the signing of any document in Astana.”
Al-Jaafari added that the delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic came to Astana to meet two guarantors Iran and Russia, saying “we didn’t come here as a delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic to meet a delegation of the armed factions. We came here to meet two guarantors who are Iran and Russia. ”
“It doesn’t matter whether the armed factions will attend the talks or not,” al-Jaafari stressed, indicating that “if the armed factions will not attend the talks this will serve the viewpoint of the Syrian government and show the political deficiency of these factions,”
He clarified that the issue of attending the talks by the armed factions isn’t their choice, but it depends on the decision of those who support them, saying “that is why the issue is political and is related to the three guarantors and when one of the three guarantors breaks their commitment – and I mean Turkey – this means that Turkey must be one that is asked about the non-attendance or participation of these armed groups.”
Earlier, the spokesperson of the “armed factions” Osama Abu Zaid said that the “factions decided not to participate in the 3rd Astana meeting,” under the pretext of not implementing the cessation of hostilities agreement."
The 3rd round of Astana talks on the crisis in Syria started in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Tuesday.
The Syrian Arab Republic delegation, headed by Bashar al-Jaafari held consultative meeting with the Russian delegation headed by Russian President’s Special Envoy Alexander Lavrentiev.
SANA/MNA