LAST week’s terrorist strike on Paris have refocused attention on Syria, where Western intelligence services are increasingly sure the attacks were planned. The country’s brutal civil conflict has acted as a recruitment and training ground for Islamic State (IS), which controls swathes of its east, as well as large parts of Iraq. The fighting has killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and left millions more homeless.
So little wonder that at the second round of talks on Syria, on November 14th in Vienna, and at the G20 summit in Turkey that followed it, demonstrations of unity and a declared determination to end the Syrian conflict were on display. America’s president, Barack Obama, who is leading the international coalition against IS in Syria and Iraq, pledged to “redouble” both military and diplomatic efforts. The meeting in Vienna was the second time Iran and Saudi Arabia, who back opposite sides, had sat at the same table. After agreeing to a transition plan at the first round of talks last month, the 17 parties have now set a date of January 1st for the process to start.
The idea is that the UN will broker and monitor a...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/1N8Kz3Z
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