Rebels to attend Astana peace talks

The talks, beginning on January 23 in the Kazakh capital Astana, are set to build on a nationwide truce that has largely held despite escalating violence across several battlefronts in recent days.

Organised by rebel backer Turkey and regime allies Russia and Iran, the meetings are the latest bid to put an end to the brutal war raging in Syria since March 2011.

If the Astana meetings are successful, they could bode well for fresh UN-hosted negotiations on the conflict next month in Geneva.

"All the rebel groups are going (to Astana). Everyone has agreed," said Mohammad Alloush, a leading figure in the Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) rebel group.

"Astana is a process to end the bloodletting by the regime and its allies. We want to end this series of crimes," Alloush said.

Ahmad al-Othman from the Sultan Murad faction confirmed rebel factions would attend.

Sources from the opposition and the regime said the talks would "probably" be face-to-face.

Several rounds of peace talks held by the United Nations have failed to produce a political solution to the conflict.

The Astana talks will assume a different approach, focusing strictly on military developments ahead of political discussions in Switzerland in February.

'Only military' talks

"The Russian, Turkish and Iranian approach is exactly the opposite of what was previously done in Geneva," said Waddah Abd Rabbo, editor of the Al-Watan daily, which is close to the government.

"The UN thought that if a political solution was reached, it would have an impact on the end of the fighting. But this time, the situation must be resolved on the ground to pave the way for political negotiations," he said.

Ahmad Ramadan, from the leading National Coalition opposition group, said the Astana talks would aim to reinforce the truce "while the details of the political process will be left to Geneva".

Osama Abu Zeid, a legal adviser to rebel groups, said rebels were encouraged to attend by the fact that "the agenda will be focused only on the ceasefire" in force since December 30.

The opposition's delegation to Astana "will be only military" but will consult "a team of legal and political advisers" from the High Negotiations Committee umbrella group, he said.

Abu Zeid said the Fateh al-Sham Front, which changed its name from Al-Nusra Front after breaking away from Al-Qaeda, would not attend the Astana talks.

US President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has been invited, but has not yet officially responded.

'Huge reinforcements'

Earlier this month, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he was "optimistic" about the talks and would be "ready for reconciliation with (rebels) on the condition that they lay down their arms".

In what was billed as his last network interview broadcast Sunday, US President Barack Obama said he did not regret drawing a "red line" in 2012 over Syria's use of chemical weapons.

"I don't regret at all saying that if I saw Bashar al-Assad using chemical weapons on his people that that would change my assessments in terms of what we were or were not willing to do in Syria," he told CBS News programme "60 Minutes".

"And regardless of how it ended up playing, I think in the Beltway, what is true is Assad got rid of his chemical weapons," Obama said.

Syria's conflict began with protests against Assad in 2011, but it has since morphed into a war that has killed 310,000 people and witnessed the rise of jihadists like the Islamic State group.

IS advanced Monday around the key eastern city of Deir Ezzor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, cutting off the regime's access route to a key nearby airport.

"The supply route to the airport is cut, and the city's eastern half is cut off from its western half," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

A military source told AFP government forces carried out more than 20 air strikes on IS positions on Monday.

"IS has resorted to heavy use of infiltrators and huge reinforcements from Raqa and western parts of Deir Ezzor province," the source said.

Raqa, to the north, is the de facto capital of the self-styled caliphate IS declared across Syria and Iraq more than two years ago.

IS already controls more than half of Deir Ezzor and launched a fierce offensive Saturday to capture remaining government-held territory.

The Observatory said the assault has killed at least 28 regime forces so far, as well as 40 IS fighters and at least 14 civilians.