Civilians are continuing to flee from the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says. Hundreds have died there in recent weeks.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/SANS
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that the Russian military and the Syrian government were extending a cease-fire in the rebel-held area of eastern Ghouta for as long as it took for all civilians to leave.
However, there was no sign that Syrian army attacks, backed by the Russian airstrikes, in eastern Ghouta actually stopped on Friday.
Lavrov made his comments at a meeting of the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey in the Kazakh capital, Astana, where several rounds of talks on Syria have been held since January 2017.
Speaking at the outset of the talks, Lavrov said that "millions of Syrians" were "looking in the direction of Astana."
However, the negotiations held there, most of which have involved delegations from the Syrian government and opposition, have so far failed to bring any lasting peace to the country.
All three countries have stakes in Syria's more than seven-year-long conflict, which has its roots in peaceful protests against the Assad regime that were brutally put down by Syrian security forces.
The Turkish, Russian and Iranian foreign ministers have met in Astana several times beforeImage: Reuters/M. Kholdorbekov
Syria's military, backed by Russian aerial support, stepped up its years-long siege of eastern Ghouta around a month ago, with opposition activists saying the campaign has killed more than 1,200 people, including some 250 children, and precipitated a humanitarian crisis.
Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are now believed to control more than 70 percent of the area.
Despite the cease-fire claimed by Lavrov, Russian airstrikes on Friday morning on the rebel-held village of Kafr Batna killed 31 civilians and wounded many others, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Observatory is an activist group linked with the Syrian opposition that is monitoring the conflict.
Elsewhere, Turkish shelling of the Kurdish-majority enclave of Afrin in northern Syria killed at least 18 civilians on Friday, the Observatory said.
The Observatory said five of those killed were children, and that there was fighting on the northern edge of the city. It said at least 245 civilians, including 41 children, had been killed so far amid an air and ground offensive by Turkey and Syrian Arab rebel proxies launched on January 20.
Turkey has called its Afrin offensive 'Operation Olive Branch'Image: picture-alliance /AA/H. Al Homsi
Turkey has said it wants to rid its border region of the US-backed Kurdish militia YPG, which Ankara says is linked with the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK has been waging a decades-long insurgency in Turkey.
On Thursday, the Observatory said that more than 30,000 civilians had fled Afrin in 24 hours.
tj/ng (Reuters, AFP, AP)
Who's fighting in the Syria conflict?
Syria's civil war erupted out of the Arab Spring protests that swept much of the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. The conflict has since drawn in multiple warring factions from around the world.
Image: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images
War with no end
Syria has been engulfed in a devastating civil war since 2011 after Syrian President Bashar Assad lost control over large parts of the country to multiple revolutionary groups. The conflict has since drawn in foreign powers and brought misery and death to Syrians.
Image: picture alliance/abaca/A. Al-Bushy
The dictator
Syria's army, officially known as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), is loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and is fighting to restore the president's rule over the entire country. The SAA has been fighting alongside a number of pro-Assad militias such as the National Defense Force and has cooperated with military advisors from Russia and Iran, which back Assad.
Turkey, which is also part of the US-led coalition against IS, has actively supported rebels opposed to Assad. It has a tense relationship with its American allies over US cooperation with Kurdish fighters, who Ankara says are linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighting in Turkey. Turkey has launched multiple military offensives targeting Kurdish militias.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/L. Pitarakis
The eastern guardian
The Kremlin has proven to be a powerful friend to Assad. Russian air power and ground troops officially joined the fight in September 2015 after years of supplying the Syrian army. Moscow has come under fire from the international community for the high number of civilian casualties during its airstrikes. However, Russia's intervention turned the tide in war in favor of Assad.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Tass/M. Metzel
The western allies
A US-led coalition of more than 50 countries, including Germany, began targeting IS and other terrorist targets with airstrikes in late 2014. The anti-IS coalition has dealt major setbacks to the militant group. The US has more than a thousand special forces in the country backing the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/A.Brandon
The rebels
The Free Syrian Army grew out of protests against the Assad regime that eventually turned violent. Along with other non-jihadist rebel groups, it seeks the ouster of President Assad and democratic elections. After suffering a number of defeats, many of its members defected to hardline militant groups. It garnered some support from the US and Turkey, but its strength has been greatly diminished.
Image: Reuters
The resistance
Fighting between Syrian Kurds and Islamists has become its own conflict. The US-led coalition against the "Islamic State" has backed the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias. The Kurdish YPG militia is the main component of the SDF. The Kurds have had a tacit understanding with Assad.
Image: Getty Images/A. Sik
The new jihadists
"Islamic State" (IS) took advantage of regional chaos to capture vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014. Seeking to establish its own "caliphate," IS has become infamous for its fundamentalist brand of Islam and its mass atrocities. IS is on the brink of defeat after the US and Russia led separate military campaigns against the militant group.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
The old jihadists
IS is not the only terrorist group that has ravaged Syria. A number of jihadist militant groups are fighting in the conflict, warring against various rebel factions and the Assad regime. One of the main jihadist factions is Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which controls most of Idlib province and has ties with al-Qaeda.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Nusra Front on Twitter
The Persian shadow
Iran has supported Syria, its only Arab ally, for decades. Eager to maintain its ally, Tehran has provided Damascus with strategic assistance, military training and ground troops when the conflict emerged in 2011. The Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah also supports the Assad regime, fighting alongside Iranian forces and paramilitary groups in the country.
