ANKARA
Turkish, Russian and Iranian foreign ministers will come together in Doha on Dec. 7 under the Astana Process format to discuss the recent escalation in Syria as the opposition groups captured Aleppo and Hama in less than a week, Turkish diplomatic sources have informed.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will meet in Qatar on the margins of the Doha Forum, the sources said.
Türkiye, Russia and Iran established the Astana Process in early 2017 to end the civil war and launch a political process between the two oppositional groups and the Assad regime under the U.N. Security Council resolution 2254.
The meeting in Doha will be held in the Astana format, the sources recalled. Fidan held separate talks with both his colleagues earlier in the week, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke on the phone with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
What changed the course of the developments in Syria was a counteroffensive launched on Nov. 27 by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other opposition groups against the Syrian regime forces. The HTS and the opposition groups have quickly entered Aleppo, the country’s second-largest cit, and Hama.
In the meantime, the Syrian National Army has pushed back the YPG terrorist group from Tel Rifat and other places to the east of the Euphrates.
The ministers of the three countries will discuss the ways to end the armed conflict in Syria and launch a new political process between the regime and opposition groups. Türkiye has long been calling on Russia and Iran to put pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to negotiate with the opposition group. Ankara assesses that the main reason behind this recent offensive by the opposition is Damascus’ unwillingness to pave the way for a political solution to the civil war in Syria since 2011.
In Doha, Fidan is expected to deliver a speech at the forum with an emphasis on the ongoing conflicts between Israel and Hamas as well as in Syria. He is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with other participating ministers.
