These regions are: the Islamist-controlled opposition enclave in and around Idlib in northwestern Syria; the Rastan-Talbiseh enclave north of Homs; the Ghouta enclave east of Damascus; and rebel-controlled areas of the Houran and Golan regions near the Jordanian border.

These negotiations, that are conducted simultaneously with the Geneva talks, have created several protests. First of all, the Syrian opposition members did not see in a good way the presence of the Iranian delegates, which are accused to “slaughtering the Syrian people and fuelling sectarian division” and are currently alongside with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s army on the ground, secondly the role of the Turkish government is quite problematic since its suspicion against the Curds that are fighting against ISIS. Moreover, there were not any Syrian representatives that signed the paper and this means that once again the peace process is not complete.

The positive aspects of this agreement concern the possibility for the international community to have access to the country and provide humanitarian help to the people, by also resuming public services such as water and electricity in different areas of the country. In fact, the idea is to create safe zones to allow refugees to enter the country.

The political talks will continue together with the political process in Geneva even if the solution to the conflict still seems difficult to reach, the agreement is not so detailed as it should be and it will be implemented in the following weeks.

For more information, please read:

http://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2017/05/05/can-deal-astana-wind-down-six-year-syrian-war
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/05/regional-powers-agree-syria-de-escalation-zones-170504121509588.html
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56686#.WRIqGYVOLmJ
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/note-correspondents/2017-05-04/note-correspondents-transcript-press-encounter-un-special