MOSCOW: Russia and Turkey on Wednesday staged their first joint air strikes against the IS in Syria, the Russian defence ministry said. Nine Russian and eight Turkish planes took part in the “first joint air operation” in the area around the town of Al-Bab in the Aleppo region, Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoi told a briefing.

The announcement came less than a week after Russia said Moscow and Ankara had signed an agreement spelling out mechanisms to coordinate their air forces in Syria when conducting strikes “on terrorist targets”. Rudskoi said that “36 targets” had been destroyed. He said Syrian authorities had agreed to the operation that he hailed as “highly effective”.

Russia, Turkey and Iran are organising Syria peace talks that begin in the Kazakh capital Astana on Monday in a bid to bolster a frail truce brokered by Moscow and Ankara last month. The truce went into effect on December 30 and has brought calm to much of Syria, although fighting persists in some regions.

The ceasefire excludes IS and its rival the Fateh al-Sham Front, which changed its name from Al-Nusra Front after breaking ties with Al Qaeda last year.

Key rebel group to not join talks

Key Syrian rebel group Ahrar al-Sham said on Wednesday it will not take part in peace talks between the regime and opposition factions in the Kazakh capital next week.

The group decided not to participate in the negotiations in Astana that start on Monday due to “the lack of implementation of the ceasefire” in force since Dec 30 and ongoing Russian air strikes over Syria, it said in a statement.

Ahrar al-Sham was among rebel groups that signed the ceasefire deal brokered by regime supporter Russia and rebel backer Turkey last month.

The truce has largely held across Syria although fighting has persisted in some areas, allowing Russia, Turkey and regime supporter Iran to organise the peace talks in Astana.

Ahrar al-Sham said “the regime’s offensive against our people in Wadi Barada”, an area 15 kilometres northwest of Damascus that is the capital’s main source of water, was among the reasons it would not attend the talks.

Ahrar al-Sham said however that it would support decisions taken by other rebel groups represented at the Astana talks if they were “in the interest of the nation”.

Mohammad Alloush, a prominent figure of the Jaish al-Islam faction, will in Astana head a “military delegation” of around eight people, backed by nine legal and political advisors from the High Negotiations Committee umbrella group.

Published in Dawn January 19th, 2017