The Syrian peace talks, set to begin on Monday, will be the first time a delegation composed exclusively of militant groups will negotiate with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The meetings, scheduled to last two days at a luxury hotel in Astana, Kazakhstan, will focus on how to extend the ceasefire negotiated in the wake of the opposition’s military defeat in Aleppo, Syria’s second city.
Reuters reported that the United States had been invited to the upcoming talks aimed at resolving Syria’s conflict due to be held in Kazakhstan.
This follows on Lavrov’s earlier statement calling for US attendance at the peace negotiations, which were organized mainly by Russia and Turkey.
“The United States is committed to a political resolution to the Syrian crisis through a Syrian-owned process, which can bring about a more representative, peaceful, and united Syria,” a State Department release said.
“Given our presidential inauguration and the immediate demands of the transition, a delegation from Washington will not be attending the Astana conference.”
Trump had said he would be willing to work with Assad’s government to achieve their shared objective in wiping out ISIS.
The new President had stated previously that keeping the Syrian president was the best way to stem the extremism that had risen from the chaos of the conflict.
He has also been emphatic about mending ties with Russia, Syria’s long-standing ally and military backer in the conflict.
“Russia is now totally aligned with Syria, and now you have Iran, which is becoming powerful, because of us, is aligned with Syria… Now we’re backing rebels against Syria, and we have no idea who those people are,” he said in December, referring to hardline Takfiris.
If the US attacks Assad, “We end up fighting Russia,” he added.
Trump’s election has been welcomed by Moscow, Tehran, and Damascus as Trump is interested primarily in defeating ISIS, rather than ousting Assad from power.
The decision by the US not to attend, reignited fears that the new US administration will abandon militants and work with the Syrian and Russian governments to defeat ISIS instead.
The Kremlin had expressed hope that the new US president will be more cooperative on initiatives to end the Syrian war than his predecessor.
“It is obvious that without the United States it is impossible to resolve the Syrian issue,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dimitry Peskov told the BBC on Sunday.
Russia is to take the role of Middle East power broker on Monday when it seeks to strengthen the Syrian ceasefire by sponsoring the talks.
Several rounds of UN and US brokered talks have so far failed to bring any lasting respite in Syria’s war.
A Turkish delegate explained that the aim of Turkey is to draw many more participants to the Syrian peace talks, to further secure peace and stability in the country, Sputnik Turkiye reported.
