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The Syrian regime, along with key ally Russia, on Wednesday agreed to support the UN’s proposal to suspend fighting in the city of Aleppo. Second city Aleppo, which was once Syria’s economic hub, is now divided between rebel and regime forces.
State news agency SANA reported Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem saying so after a meeting between a Syrian delegation and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi.
“The discussions… looked into the role of U.N. envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura. Both sides view (the envoy’s role) in exactly the same way, and support his efforts to freeze the fighting in Aleppo”, Mualem was quoted as saying.
Last month, De Mistura had put forward an “action plan” for Syria which called for a “freeze” in fighting in certain parts of the country to help with aid deliveries and form some kind of basis for peace talks. Syrian President Bashar Assad had earlier in the month said that the plan was “worthy of study”.
The meeting was held behind doors; neither Russian state media nor the Russian government revealed the content of the meeting.
According to Syrian pro-regime newspaper Al-Watan, the meeting “laid the initial vision for a political solution to the Syrian crisis that would bring together several Syrian patriotic sides”.
The daily added that the process would “require time to materialize” and that it doesn’t have a detailed plan to end the Syrian civil war.
Earlier in the year, two rounds of UN-mediated talks were held in Switzerland both of which ended without an agreement. However, after the Sochi meeting, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that there will not be a repeat of the Geneva talks.
“If you think that a conference will be announced similar to the one that was held in… January this year with the participation of 50-odd states, thousands of journalists, bright lights, there won’t be such a conference”, Lavrov said.
A former leader of the main opposition National Coalition, Moaz al-Khatib, is reported to have held talks at the Russian foreign ministry on November 7.
The opposition coalition, which has been internationally recognized but lacks influence in Syria, has voiced skepticism about prospects for progress.
Syria’s conflict began as a peaceful movement demanding Assad’s ouster but escalated into a civil war that has killed more than 195,000 people and forced half the population to flee their homes.