China hopes that the work to set up the Syrian constitutional commission will be terminated by late September, Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on the Syrian Issue Xie Xiaoyan said on Monday.
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th August, 2018) China hopes that the work to set up the Syrian constitutional commission will be terminated by late September, Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on the Syrian Issue Xie Xiaoyan said on Monday.
"Speaking about the current situation in Syria, there have been significant changes recently. First of all, fight against terrorist groups is going on. Secondly, certain progress in the formation of the Syrian constitutional commission has been achieved. According to some reports, perhaps, this work will be concluded by late September. I hope that this goal will be achieved," Xie said.
The Chinese envoy noted that despite the fact that chances for political settlement in Syria had increased recently, there were still serious challenges that should be addressed.
"There is still a number of serious challenges. For example, fragmentation in Syria, there is a risk of clashes due to it. During my tour [to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Syria], I called on the parties not to turn the de-escalation zones into fragmentation zones," Xie said at a briefing on the outcome of his middle Eastern trip.
There are currently four agreed de-escalation zones in Syria. The first zone is in Idlib and parts of neighboring Latakia, Hama, and Aleppo provinces; the second in the north of the central Homs province; the third in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus; and the fourth in certain parts of the southern Daraa and Quneitra provinces.
In mid-July, Geneva hosted the first negotiations of the Syrian ceasefire guarantor states � Iran, Russian and Turkey � devoted to the implementation of the constitutional commission's mechanism. In late July, following the 10th round of Astana peace talks for Syria, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura announced his plans to hold another meeting on the constitutional commission's establishment in September.
Syria has been engulfed in an armed conflict since 2011. In late 2017, the victory over the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) was declared in Syria and Iraq, with some territories of the two countries still being cleared of terrorists with the assistance of the Russian forces. The main efforts in Syria are currently focused on political settlement and post-war reconstruction of the country.
