Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Washington has sent a top State Department official as the U.S. representative at the new round of intra-Syrian talks in Astana that kicked off on May 3.

This follows a phone conversation between U.S. and Russian leaders, in which they discussed de-escalation in Syria.

While the U.S. did send its observers to two previous rounds of the ceasefire talks, which were sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran and hosted by Kazakhstan, its senior representative at the meeting was U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan George Krol.

This time, however, its representative will be Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Stuart Jones, who previously served as U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Jordan.

Ambassador Jones' participation as the U.S. observer is indicative of U.S. support for a political resolution to the Syrian crisis.

The head of the press service of Kazakh Foreign Ministry, Anuar Zhainakov , said that he has already arrived in Astana.

Another observer, Jordan, also raised the level of its presence. The adviser of the Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Nauaf Uasfi Tel came from Amman.

As for the guarantor countries, the delegation of the Russian Federation is headed by the special representative of the president on the Syrian settlement, Alexander Lavrentiev, the delegation of Turkey –Deputy Foreign Minister for the Middle East and Africa Sedat Onal, the delegation of Iran - Deputy Foreign Minister for the affairs of the Arab-African countries Hossein Jaberi Ansari.

The nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime was introduced on December 30, 2016, with Russia, Iran and Turkey serving as its guarantors. The UN Security Council passed a resolution in December supporting the effort.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), controlling parts of it.

According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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