Astana Talks on Syria Begin in Kazakhstan

 FILE PHOTO: UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen attends a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland October 2, 2019. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen attends a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland October 2, 2019. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
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Astana Talks on Syria Begin in Kazakhstan

 FILE PHOTO: UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen attends a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland October 2, 2019. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen attends a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland October 2, 2019. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

Delegations from Turkey, Russia, and Iran have met Tuesday in Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan for the 17th meeting of the Astana peace process that aims to find a solution to the decade-long crisis in Syria.

Syrian government and opposition representatives are attending the process alongside the UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen. Delegations from the UN, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon are also attending as observers.

The Turkish delegation is headed by Ambassador Selçuk Ünal, the foreign ministry’s Syria Director-General, while Russia is represented by President Vladimir Putin’s Special Representative for Syria, Aleksandr Lavrentyev, and Iran by Ali Asgar Haji, a senior adviser to the Iranian foreign minister on special political affairs.

The Syrian opposition is participating under the chairmanship of Ahmet Tuma. The Syrian government delegation is headed by Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Ayman Susan.

Participants will focus on discussing Pedersen’s “step for step” proposal as well as maintaining the ceasefire and the situation “on the ground” in several Syrian regions, a well-informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“The file of detainees is expected to occupy an important space against the backdrop of a Russian endeavor to achieve progress after a long stumble in the previous rounds,” they said.

“Moreover, the file of the Constitutional Committee will be strongly present,” they added, noting that Syria’s Constitutional Committee is set to convene another round next month.

Speaking under the conditions of anonymity, the source noted that Moscow wasn’t too excited about Pedersen’s proposal because it believes the approach undermines the work of the Constitutional Committee and Russia’s prioritizing of a political settlement for the war-torn country.

Nevertheless, no official comment was made by Russia on Pedersen’s proposal.

What was remarkable was the Russian delegation starting discussions at the Astana Process by directing criticism of the Syrian opposition and holding it responsible for the stalemate that afflicted the work of the Constitutional Committee.



Israeli Airstrike on Apartment Building in Lebanese Coastal Town Kills at Least 1

 A building damaged in an Israeli military strike in the town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, 05 November 2024. (EPA)
A building damaged in an Israeli military strike in the town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, 05 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Airstrike on Apartment Building in Lebanese Coastal Town Kills at Least 1

 A building damaged in an Israeli military strike in the town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, 05 November 2024. (EPA)
A building damaged in an Israeli military strike in the town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, 05 November 2024. (EPA)

An Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in a coastal town south of Beirut killed at least one person, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

The ministry said 20 others were wounded in the strike Tuesday in Jiyeh, around 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of the port of Sidon.

The attack hit an area that has not been a regular target of Israeli military operations and had not received prior evacuation warnings.

“It felt like it was inside the house,” Malika Al Hajj, an elderly woman living in the area, told The Associated Press. “I ran away — I don’t even know which neighbor brought me out, because everything was black. You couldn’t see anything.”

Once outside, Hajj said she discovered that the strike had hit the nearby building where her nephews live.

“Men, women and children” live inside, she said. “I just want to be reassured. I saw some of them, but the others, they told me, were taken to the hospital."

At the site of the strike, the building’s skeletal frame stands amid the rubble, its concrete shattered, windows blown out and metal twisted from the impact.

Families were seen leaving the area, carrying what belongings they could gather.

Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed at least 3,013 people and injured 13,553 others since Oct. 2023, the Lebanese government said on Tuesday.