Konflikten i Syrien

Analyst says trilateral meeting on Syria in Moscow will herald new format of peace talks

MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. A trilateral meeting of foreign and defense ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran, due in Moscow on December 20, may herald a new format of peace talks on Syria, the chief of the Asia and Middle East Center at the Russian Institute of Strategic Research, Anna Glazova, has told TASS.

"This meeting will herald a new format of negotiations on Syria, in which regional countries participating in the conflict in Syria will be involved directly and where the US Administration will not be playing a direct role," Glazova said. "Also, it will be the first meeting ahead of the forthcoming direct negotiations between the Syrian government, on the one hand, and radical opposition militants, on the other.
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"Taking part in the talks will be delegates from Russia, Iran, Turkey and other countries that would like to see a peace settlement process start in Syria as soon as possible. This is a fundamental change in the diplomatic space because the talks with the so-called opposition that have been held in Geneva for so many years never yielded any tangible results," she believes.

"Russia has long urged the United States to separate the opposition from the terrorists in order to jointly fight against those who have been recognized as members of terrorist organizations," Glazova said. "Nothing of the sort has happened to this day.
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Russia is beginning to talk directly to those militants fighting in Syria who display the readiness to lay down weapons. As a matter of fact, this is a far more effective and reliable format that brings us closer to peace and to reconstructing the country without redundant, empty and meaningless negotiations."

Iran is covertly recruiting hundreds of Afghan Shias in Afghanistan to fight for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, drawing them out of their own conflict-ridden country and into another war in which Afghanistan plays no official part.

The Afghan fighters are often impoverished, religiously devout or ostracised from society, looking for money, social acceptance and a sense of purpose that they are unable to find at home.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/30/iran-covertly-recruits-afghan-soldiers-to-fight-in-syria

Another startling finding was the level of education listed, with most of the recruits saying they had completed secondary school and many listing higher education and university degrees.

The report described the group as “generally well educated” and said that although some of the fighters recorded no formal education, a roughly equal number held advanced degrees.

PhDs in economics, computer science, English, physiology and teaching were among those listed, with Western fighters being more highly educated on average.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-documents-leak-reveals-profile-of-average-militant-as-young-well-educated-but-with-only-basic-a 6995111.html