ASTANA, January 24. /TASS/. The importance of the Astana format on the settlement of the situation in Syria is rising now considering escalating tensions in the Middle East, Russia's special presidential representative for the Syrian settlement Alexander Lavrentyev said.

"The importance of this forum is indeed rising now considering all those worrisome developments that are currently taking place in the world, considering escalating tensions in the Middle East," he said, adding that "the relevance of deepened bilateral, trilateral talks of not only member states, but also all those participating in the forum, is huge."

"All three guarantor countries, including Turkey, Iran and Russia, play a notable role in settlement of the Syrian crisis. This is why we will need to coordinate our further positions of cooperation with all participating sides, first of all with the Syrian side, of course, both with the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition," the envoy explained.