Syrian government, rebels begin peace talks

The Syrian government of President Bashar Assad and the rebel militants working to oust him began the latest round of talks Monday aimed at solidifying a cease-fire and easing the humanitarian crisis that has dragged on for much of the six-year civil war.

The talks held in the Kazakhstan capital of Astana, if successful, could also lay the groundwork for a comprehensive political solution to the crisis.

Already, the talks got off to a rocky start after Bashar Ja’afari, Syria’s government envoy at the peace summit, labeled rebel leader Mohammad Alloush’s speech in Astana as "provocative" and "insolent" and referred to the rebel delegation as representatives of "terrorist armed groups."

The two-day talks are led by Russia, Turkey and Iran, the same nations that brokered the rickety cease-fire that began Dec. 30. The Trump administration declined an invitation to the talks issued from Russia, citing the "demands of the transition,” the State Department said. However, the U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, George Krol, will attend as an observer.

Another round of talks, led by the United Nations, is set to begin Feb. 8 in Geneva, and U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura is in Astana.

Neither the cease-fire nor the Astana talks involve the Islamic State.

The opposition delegation, which arrived in Astana on Sunday, is made up of about a dozen rebel figures led by Alloush, of Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam).

A spokesman for the rebel delegation, Yahya al-Aridi, said a firm truce is key to beginning work on long-term solutions.

“If the other side doesn’t care about stopping the bloodshed in Syria, and cares most about staying in power at the expense of Syrian blood … in that case, nothing will work,” he told the Associated Press.

The rebel delegation will lack representation from one key rebel group, Ahrar al-Sham, which said it is skipping Astana to protest cease-fire violations and ongoing Russian airstrikes. Each side has accused the other of cease-fire violations. Ahrar al-Sham said it would align with agreements made by other rebel groups if they were “in the interest of the nation.”

Alloush said the rebels also would press for release of captives held by the Assad regime and an end to regime sieges on opposition-held areas.

Syria's Ja'afari is an experienced negotiator also involved in the U.N.-sponsored talks. The government's position has been strengthened by a wave of victories in recent months, including driving the last rebel holdouts from Syria's largest city, Aleppo.

The regime's military upper hand could bode well for Assad's future, as U.S. demands for his ouster drift further from the headlines.

The U.S. and Turkey have backed rebel forces fighting Assad's military and the Islamic State. But the U.S.-Turkish alliance has been bruised by the authoritarian practices of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Erdogan's ire at U.S. support for Kurdish forces fighting Assad.

Turkey, long struggling against militant Kurdish separatists, considers Kurdish fighters terrorists.