DAMASCUS: Syria’s foreign minister on Saturday linked any talks on the future of a rebel-held southern region with the departure of US forces from another area bordering Iraq and Jordan.
Government ally Russia has called for a meeting with the United States and Jordan on the future of the southern provinces of Daraa and Quneitra, bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
In recent weeks, Damascus has sent military reinforcements to the two provinces, which comprise some of the closest rebel-held areas to the capital.
President Vladimir Putin has spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu about proposed talks.
“We have not yet entered into negotiations over the southern front,” Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al Muallem said at a press conference in Damascus.
“The indicator will be the withdrawal of the United States from our land in At-Tanaf” near the Iraqi and Jordanian borders, Muallem said.
The United States and its allies have used a base in the area to train a force fighting the IS group.
“Don’t believe anything that is said about an agreement on the south until you see that the United States has withdrawn its forces from the At-Tanaf base,” he said.
“It must withdraw its forces from At-Tanaf.”
“We have strived from the start to resolve the issue in the ways that we are used to, which are reconciliations,” he said. “If it is not feasible, we will see what will happen.”
Moscow-brokered reconciliation deals have seen rebels withdraw from several areas of Syria including opposition strongholds close to the capital, often after blistering regime offensives and sieges.
12 civilians killed: At least 12 civilians have been killed in US-led coalition raids on the IS group in northeastern Syria, a monitor said on Saturday.
The civilians — including two women and their children — belonged to the same family, it added. — AFP
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