Cooperation between the United States and Russia has a crucial role in pursuing a political solution to the conflict in Syria, UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said during a UN Security Council meeting on Monday
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th May, 2020) Cooperation between the United States and Russia has a crucial role in pursuing a political solution to the conflict in Syria, UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said during a UN Security Council meeting on Monday.
"Let us recall that there have been too many episodes in the past decade where fleeting opportunities to turn dynamics toward a political path were lost. We must not repeat this pattern," Pedersen said. "I believe that Russian-American dialogue has a key role to play here and I encourage them to pursue it."
Pedersen noted that with the relative calm on the ground and a common enemy in the face of the novel coronavirus pandemic, renewed international cooperation and confidence-building measures among Syrian stakeholders could pave the way to progress.
"The states that discuss Syria in the Astana and Small Group formats are key players too, as are you - the members of this Council," Pedersen said.
The armed conflict in Syria has been ongoing since 2011 as Islamic terrorist and opposition groups have fought with the Syrian Arab Army to topple the government of President Bashar Assad. The government forces have regained control over most of initially lost territories by 2017, but the terrorists have retained several strongholds located chiefly in the north of Syria.
The United States has been primarily cooperating with Kurdish and Syrian opposition fighters. Last October, US President Donald Trump ordered his troops to leave Syria, saying that their mission was accomplished, although part of the US military has remained to guard the oil infrastructure in the northeast of the country.
The epicenter of hostilities is in the province of Idlib, which was turned into a demilitarized zone under an agreement between Russia and Turkey in 2018. Per a memorandum of understanding concluded by Ankara and Moscow last October, Turkish and Russian military conduct regular patrols in the area.
