Russia, Iran and Turkey say they are ready to help broker a peace deal for Syria.
After talks in Moscow, the three countries’ foreign ministers expressed confidence they could revive the stalled peace process.
They also plan to try to expand a ceasefire.
The United States was notably absent from the meeting.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: “Iran, Russian and Turkey express their readiness to act in favour and become guarantors of the agreement that is being prepared and negotiated at the moment by the Syrian government and opposition. The three call on all the other countries that have influence on the situation on the ground to do the same.”
His Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif added: “We need to find a political solution, which supports the principles of respect of the territory’s sovereignty and of Syria’s national unity. So we have to accept the reality, which is that the only solution to ending the war is a political solution.”
Ankara’s position is complicated as it supports some insurgents trying to bring down Syria’s President Bashir al Assad. The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s position is that all sides should cease fire but the talks cannot involve what he called terrorist groups like Islamic State and the former Al Qaeda group Fatah al-Sham. He also spoke of Lebanon’s Hezbollah which backs the Assad government implying Damascus should use its influence.
The next step is a new series of Syrian peace negotiations without the involvement of the United States or the United Nations to be held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, a close Russian ally.
