INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, Turkey and Qatar couldmeet next week to attend to the recent escalation in Syria, where an
Islamist-led rebel alliance seized territory from the control of President Bashar al-Assads government in a lightning offensive.The four-way
talks might take place in Doha on Dec
7-8, according to Russias state-run TASS news agency, which cites Iranian and Arabic media protection of bilateral talks in between Turkish
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.Russia, Turkey and Iran have held talks on Syrias future as part of
the Astana peace procedure considering that a minimum of 2015
Syria has been at war given that Assad cracked down on democracy demonstrations in 2011
The conflict has actually given that drawn in foreign powers in addition to jihadists, and has actually left 500,000 individuals dead.The
war had actually been mainly inactive with Assad back in control of much of the country, till recently when the Islamist-led rebel alliance
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) started its offensive.The attack has actually seen swaths of Syria fall to rebel control, consisting of the
second city Aleppo, home to 2 million individuals, for the very first time because the start of the civil war.Nearly 50,000 people have
actually also been freshly displaced since the end of November, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported
Monday.Russia very first intervened directly in Syrias war in 2015 with strikes on rebel-held areas.On Monday, President Vladimir Putin and
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkianpledged unconditional support for the Assad federal government, according to the Kremlin.Earlier that
day, Assad slammed the HTS-led rebel offensive in a call with Iran's Pezeshkian as an effort to redraw the local map in line with United
States interests.The United States, the United Nations and the European Union required de-escalation, with the EU condemning Russia for
carrying out air strikes in assistance of Assad.AFP contributed reporting.
