Syrian Analyst: Damascus Not to Make Any Concessions to Terrorists in Astana Talks

“The attempts made by the regimes which support terrorism to use the events in Wadi al-Bardi (in Western Ghouta of Damascus) and the ISIL attack against Deir Ezzur to take political advantages in Astana talks are in vain and will fail,” Mohammad Issa al-Shaikh told FNA on Monday.

Stressing that the Syrian army and its allies will soon force the terrorists to withdraw or accept the reconciliation plan in Wadi al-Bardi, he said the events in Wadi al-Bardi are related to the ISIL’s fierce attacks against Deir Ezzur.

“It is fully clear that the ISIL offensive has been conducted at the US order,” al-Shaikh said.

The peace talks between the Syrian government and a delegation of armed groups which have accepted the ceasefire will start at 13:00 (local time) in Kazakhstan’s capital on Monday in the presence of the Iranian, Russian, Turkish and Syrian delegations to Astana.

Media reports said that the opposition groups are headed by Mohammad Aloush, a rebel chief backed by Riyadh.

Certain sources have said that over 40 opposition forces will participate in the Astana talks.

Bashar al-Jafari, Syria’s permanent envoy to the UN, will lead the country’s delegation.

Staffan de Mistura, UN special envoy for Syria, has also been sent to Kazakhstan along with his deputies while the EU has said that it will participate at ambassadorial level.

The US has announced that it will send its Envoy to Astana George A. Krol to the meeting between the Syrian government and the opposition.

Iranian, Turkish and Russian deputy foreign ministers are representing their countries in the meeting in Astana as well.

Analysts believe that the US and opposition delegations in Astana talks will attempt to use the ISIL’s recent advances in Deir Ezzur as a winning card.

A senior Syrian legislator disclosed on Sunday that the US is paving the ground for the ISIL terrorists to enter Deir Ezzur and launch attacks against the Syrian army positions.

“The US has played a big role in the ISIL offensives against Deir Ezzur and its fighter jets have protected the ISIL terrorists when being transferred from Mosul to Deir Ezzur through the desert areas in Syria,” Satam al-Dandal, also head of al-Akidat tribe in Syria, told FNA.

“Also, this is the US that has ordered the ISIL militants in Tadmur (Palmyra) and Raqqa to withdraw from those regions and go to Deir Ezzur,” he added.

In relevant remarks on Wednesday, a prominent military analyst said the US has provided the ISIL with aerial and satellite images of the Syrian army positions in Deir Ezzur to be used in the terrorist group’s offensives.

“ISIL’s fierce attacks on Deir Ezzur in the past few days which have been launched from several directions and their precise targeting attacks indicate that the terrorist group is logistically supported by the satellite images,” Hassan Hassan told FNA.

Noting that such precision-striking attacks are possible only through using satellite images, he said, “Although the US-led international coalition claims to be fighting against the ISIL, it contributes no role in the fight against ISIL in Deir Ezzur, proving that the ISIL had never been a target for the coalition but it was an instrument to implement Washington’s plots and prolong the war in Syria.”

“The terrorists have received satellite images of the Syrian army positions from the US,” Hassan underlined.

Also, media sources in the region said on Tuesday that US-led collation’s air attack on Syrian army positions in Southern Deir Ezzur in September paved the ground for ISIL’s large-scale attacks on government positions in the last couple of days.

The Arabic language Lebanese al-Akhbar paper reported that recent attacks of ISIL on government positions in Deir Ezzur in the last two to three days are the results of the US air attack on army positions in September as the air raids weakened the army troops.

The paper added that ISIL’s control over the entire territories in Deir Ezzur province will benefit significantly the US-led coalition.

The paper said that ISIL intends to take full control of Deir Ezzur city and vast regions in Syria’s desert from South of Sweida up to Palmyra in Homs and from Raqqa to Deir Ezzur to take control of Syria’s border with Iraq.

Al-Akhbar underlined that based on field information the ISIL’s plan was practically kicked off when the US-led coalition’s fighter jets bombed the Syrian Army’s positions in al-Thardah mountain on September 17 that left tens of army soldiers dead and wounded.

The army later pulled back their men from trinary al-Thardah mountain that plays a protection role for Deir Ezzur airbase.

The US-led coalition’s air raid opened way for ISIL to use its suicide attackers and suicide vehicles to intensify attacks on Deir Ezzur airbase.