Alwaght- A portion of Syrian rebels will join the third round of Astana talks on Wednesday after spokesman of militant groups initially announced that they will not attend Iran-Russia-Turkey brokered peace talks.
The talks, which will focus on the cease-fire that came into effect Dec. 30, have been startet on Tuesday in the Kazakh capital Astana.
Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry spokesman Anuar Zhainakov confirmed that Syrian armed opposition from the northern and southern fronts are expected to arrive in the capital Astana late Wednesday.
"Tomorrow [Thursday], they will hold talks with the experts of guarantor countries [Russia, Turkey and Iran] on the implementation of the cease-fire," Zhainakov told reporters.
Militants will join the talks with one day delay after their spokesman Osama Abu Zaid said on Monday they had taken a final decision not to go to the talks as a result of Russia's failure to end what the opposition says are widespread violations of last December ceasefire.
However, a portion of the armed opposition announced Tuesday that they would participate.
The Iranian delegation is led by Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari while Special Envoy Alexander Lavrentiev leads the Russian team and Turkish delegation is headed by Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Sedat Onal.
Following the Dec. 30 cease-fire, the first round of Astana talks were held on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24.
