DOHA, December 4. /TASS/. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has confirmed that representatives from Iran, Russia and Turkey, the guarantor countries for the Astana process, will meet in Qatar on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, which is scheduled for December 7-8.
"A meeting of the Astana process member states’ ministers of foreign affairs will be held in Doha, as the Iranian, Russian and Turkish foreign ministers will be attending the Doha Forum. Qatar, however, will not participate in these talks," the National Iranian Radio and Television quoted him as saying.
The Iranian minister also noted that he was going to pay a business visit to Baghdad on December 6 and hold a number of meetings with the Iraqi authorities in connection with the escalation of the Syrian crisis.
On December 2, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced plans to revive the Astana Format and hold a ministerial meeting between Turkey, Russia and Iran in the nearest future with the objective of resolving the situation in Syria. Aragchi later stated that Russian, Iranian, Qatari and Turkish reps would likely meet to discuss Syria in Doha. The Iranian Fars news agency, citing Aragchi, specified that a meeting of foreign ministers may be held within the Doha Forum, which is expected to be held on December 7-8. On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS that plans to hold an Astana format meeting on Syria were in the works. Meanwhile, Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesman Majed Al-Ansari did not confirm that said meeting would be held, but noted that the emirate was not opposed to talking about the matter.
Early on November 27, units of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group (banned in Russia) conducted a large-scale attack on the city of Aleppo and other settlements in northern Syria, which were under the protection of the government forces. The Syrian army launched an operation to counter the raid. On November 30, the country’s armed forces command stated that the army was carrying out strikes on the positions of terrorists who had managed to infiltrate several neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo. According to the Syrian Defense Ministry’s statement, the army was forced to reorganize its forces to protect the lives of civilians and troops and prepare for a counteroffensive.