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SYRIA peace talks in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana quickly turned stormy yesterday with the government and insurgents trading verbal blows.
Proceedings had started promisingly, with the opposition sitting down at the same table as the Syrian delegation, something they refused to do in the Geneva talks last year.
But Syrian UN ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari condemned insurgent delegation leader Mohammed Alloush after the latter described the Syrian government as “terrorist” and called for its allies to be placed on the list of terrorist organisations, along with Isis and al-Qaida.
VIJAY PRASHAD details how US support for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa allowed him to break the resistance of the autonomous Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)
VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention
ALEX HALL follows the battered fortunes of Syria, a multi-ethnic country caught in the crossfire of competing imperialist interests