Opposition not happy with Astana communiqué

ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Syrian opposition is unhappy with a communique establishing a ceasefire mechanism between Russia, Iran and Turkey, an opposition delegate to talks in Astana said on Tuesday. “Iran is spearheading in a number of areas military offensives and leading to forcible displacements of thousands of Syrians and causing bloodletting. This communique legitimizes this role,” said the delegate. The head of the Syrian opposition delegation to talks in Astana, Mohammed Alloush, said on Tuesday he had reservations about a final communique issued by Russia, Turkey and Iran, saying the rebels had submitted a separate ceasefire proposal. He said he expected Russia to respond within a week on the opposition’s ceasefire proposal and that they would never allow Iran, which backs Syrian government forces, to have a say in Syria’s future. The opposition delegation said earlier that they would agree to have Russia serve as a guarantor of the current ceasefire but not Iran. Russia, Iran and Turkey, the sponsors of peace talks between Syrian opposition and Damascus, agreed Tuesday to establish a joint “mechanism” to monitor the frail truce in the war-torn country. The sides have agreed to “establish a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the ceasefire, prevent any provocations and determine all modalities of the ceasefire,” according to a final statement read by Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov following the talks in Astana. Concluding the talks, Tehran, Moscow and Ankara also said they supported the willingness of the armed opposition groups to participate in the next round of negotiations to be held in Geneva on Feb. 8 and the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 2254.