Syrian cease-fire monitoring group to meet in Astana

The Syrian cease-fire monitoring group, made up of experts from Russia, Turkey, Iran and the United Nations, will meet next week in Astana, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

Monday's gathering will be the first technical meeting between the UN and the three countries acting as guarantors for the cease-fire following peace talks in late January in the Kazakh capital between Syrian government and opposition representatives, Efe news reported.

"The group meetings for Syria in Astana will be on a regular basis and will have representatives from the the Syrian government and the armed opposition," the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The objective of the first meeting is to "develop measures for the control and prevention of cease-fire violations, increase trust between the Syrian authorities and the opposition, and the handling of humanitarian issues", the ministry said.

According to the ministry, the meeting will also serve to address "the separation between the units belonging to the moderate opposition and the al-Nusra Front terrorist group, a step that the guarantor countries see as the most important objective".

--IANS

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