MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Friday declined to confirm whether it would invite the United States to Syria peace talks later this month after Washington was excluded from brokering a recent truce in the war-torn country.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that Turkey and Russia had agreed that Washington “should be definitely invited” to talks under their auspices on the war-torn country’s political future set to take place in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on January 23.
Asked to comment on the Turkish statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “I cannot say anything about this for now.”
Peskov nonetheless added that Russia is “interested in the broadest possible representation of the parties who have a bearing on the prospects of a political settlement in Syria.”
Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed the hope that the new American presidential administration under Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on January 20, could “also join the efforts so that we can work in the same direction harmoniously and collectively.”
Lavrov at the time did not say whether Washington would be invited to the negotiating table.
Russia and Turkey last month brokered a ceasefire in the war-torn country but without the involvement of the United States, a negotiator in previous truces.
The truce went into effect on December 30 and has brought calm to much of Syria although fighting continues in some regions.
Meanwhile, several major explosions hit Mezzah military airport compound near the Syrian capital Damascus, and ambulances were rushed to the area, Syrian state television said on Friday.
The airport southwest of the capital is a major strategic air base used mainly by Syrian elite Republican Guards and had been a base used to fire rockets at former rebel-held areas in the suburbs of Damascus. State television did not give any further details.
The cause of the explosions was not clear, but a regional defence expert and a senior Syrian armed rebel source said the sounds heard in parts of the capital suggested they could be Israeli warplane strikes. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
