The meeting will be attended by Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, his Syrian counterpart Asaad Al-Shaibani, and Thomas Barrack, the U.S. Special Envoy to Syria and Washington’s Ambassador to Turkey, along with official delegations from the three countries, according to the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On the sidelines of the meeting, Safadi is scheduled to hold separate bilateral talks with both Al-Shaibani and Barrack to discuss aspects of bilateral cooperation and regional issues related to the Syrian situation, according to the ministry.
The ministry added that the meeting “will be attended by Syrian Foreign Minister and Expatriates Asaad Al-Shaibani, the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey and the U.S. Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, and representatives from relevant institutions in the three countries.” It clarified that “the meeting is a continuation of the discussions held in Amman in mid-July,” which focused on stabilizing the ceasefire in As-Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria and opening cooperation channels to address the crisis’s repercussions there.
Arab media revealed preparations for a meeting bringing together the Syrian government and dignitaries from As-Suwayda Governorate in the Jordanian capital, Amman, with regional and international support, and efforts to involve Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, the spiritual leader of the Druze Unitarian community in Syria, along with family dignitaries and faction leaders in the governorate. This comes against the backdrop of German media reports about the Syrian government sending military reinforcements to the eastern countryside of Aleppo and Raqqa in northeastern Syria last Sunday.
Sources, who requested anonymity, added that “the military reinforcements that reached the Tishreen Dam area, Deir Hafer, and Al-Zamlah, came after assaults and repeated targeting of Ministry of Defense forces by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).” Meanwhile, the Syrian Ministry of Defense’s media department issued a statement saying, “Some social media platforms circulated video footage of a Syrian Arab Army training exercise south of Aleppo (northern Syria), and it was portrayed as new military movements. In this regard, we clarify that what was reported by ‘Al Araby TV’ and several media outlets is inaccurate and does not reflect reality.”
It is noteworthy that there is a possibility of discussing recent violent events in As-Suwayda Governorate in the presence of several dignitaries from the governorate, especially after the United Nations Security Council condemned the violent incidents, which included footage from a hospital showing scenes of killing and torture experienced by the medical staff there.
The United Nations Security Council expressed its deep concern last Sunday over the escalating threats of foreign fighters in Syria, affirming its condemnation of the acts of violence targeting civilians in As-Suwayda Governorate. In a statement published by the United Nations last Sunday, the Security Council called for “commitment to the ceasefire and ensuring the protection of civilians, in addition to facilitating the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to As-Suwayda and all of Syria.”
