Washington to hold a series of international meetings on Syria, Iranian role
North-Press Agency
The United States is preparing to hold successive diplomatic and security meetings with various international parties to discuss files related to the current and future Syrian situation.
As It’s scheduled to hold a meeting of the representatives of the “Small Group”, an international group comprising the United States, the UK, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, according to Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
The London based newspaper expected the participation of the UN International Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen and the head of the Syrian Negotiation Committee Naser al-Hariri at the upcoming meeting, also the participation of the US Special Envoy to Syria James Jeffrey was confirmed.
The participants in the small group will discuss the files related to the detainees, the political process stagnation, and the failure of the UN envoy to overcome the problem of the six names in the third list of the constitutional committee. In addition to the rules of work of the constitutional committee and other top files in Syria.
Meanwhile, a meeting is being prepared to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday next week in Paris, which includes senior officials in the US-led Global Coalition against ISIS, Amb. James Jeffrey will also participate in the meeting.
Asharq al-Awsat expected that the meeting would discuss the future of the post-ISIS territories in north and eastern Syria and in western Iraq. While Washington urged its allies to contribute more financially and militarily to northeast Syria, and support the Syrian Democratic Forces following the decision of President Donald Trump to continue the US military presence in the region.
The US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey is also scheduled to participate in a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, in addition to his participation in another meeting next Friday that will include Western Envoys regarding the Syrian file.
While a Russian-American-Israeli meeting is scheduled to be held in West Jerusalem on the 24th of this month, which includes the directors of the countries’ national security advisors, to discuss the Syrian crisis and the Iranian role involved.
The newspaper pointed out that these various meetings pave the way for summit meetings to be held on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, which expected to include meetings between the US President Trump and the Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump and Turkish President Erdogan, and Putin and Erdogan.
These bilateral meetings will address the future of the safe area along the north-eastern borders of Syria with Turkey, the Russian-Turkish understanding over Idlib and the Constitutional Commission.
Nikolai Patrushev, The Russian Security Council Secretary, indicated that Moscow would transfer the results of the tripartite meeting in western Jerusalem to Iran, as being “Russia’s strategic partner in the region”.
Meanwhile, these efforts are in coincidence with the Russian continued attempts to boost Astana’s path after the Russian Presidential Envoy Alexander Lavrinjev’s tour in Baghdad, Beirut, and Damascus to invite the Iraqi and the Lebanese governments to attend Astana Meeting, which is scheduled in the next month, as “Observers”.
Earlier in May, The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo presented an eight-point plan to the Russian side during his visit to Sochi, the plan included; “The implementation of the UN Resolution 2254 to achieve a political solution, cooperation in the fight against terrorism and ISIS, weakening the Iranian influence, and eliminating weapons of mass destruction in Syria, providing humanitarian assistance, supporting neighboring countries, providing the conditions for the return of Syrian refugees, and establishing the principle of accountability for crimes committed in Syria.”
According to sources, Moscow has initially approved, but with a dispute, on the sequence of implementing the points amid European doubts in Washington’s promises to Moscow, and efforts from the European countries with the United States regarding the implementation of the eight-point plan.