Next Round of Syria Talks in Astana Delayed

The next round of talks involving Russia, Turkey and Iran on settling the Syrian conflict has been pushed back from late August to mid-September, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said on Tuesday. Kazakhstan hosts the talks that have in the past few months focused on establishing de-escalation zones in Syria. "According to the information we have received from Russia, the guarantor states, namely Russia, Turkey and Iran, plan to hold a technical meeting before the end of August where they will agree on the agenda and exact dates of the next Astana meeting," Abdrakhmanov told reporters, Reuters reported. "A preliminary plan is for mid-September," he said. At the most recent Astana meeting in July, the three nations failed to finalize an agreement on creating four de-escalation zones in Syria after Ankara raised objections.