Head of the Syrian government delegate for intra-Syrian peace talks, Bashar al-Jafari, stressed immediate withdrawal of US and Turkish forces from the war-torn Arab country.

He made the demand during the latest round of Syrian peace negotiations in the Kazakh capital city of Astana.

On October 13, Turkish troops travelling in a convoy of 12 armored vehicles entered northern Syria in a new military operation.

Turkish media sources said the convoy included about 80 soldiers.

Local sources said the troops were headed towards the western part of Aleppo province.

The development came after Turkish officials said they were sending troops into Syria to enforce a de-escalation zone in Idlib, which is largely controlled by the Takfiri Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist alliance.

The de-escalation zone forms part of an agreement reached between Turkey, Iran and Russia.

Meanwhile, a joint statement released after two days of talks in Kazakhstan said delegations from Russia, Iran and Turkey, Syrian government representatives as well as a 20-member opposition team had agreed to hold a “peace congress” in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi as part of efforts to find a political solution to the six-year-old Syrian conflict.

The statement said the congress will be held between January 29 and 30 next year, and “all segments of the Syrian society” will participate in it.

It added “To this end three guarantors (Russia, Turkey and Iran) will hold a special preparation meeting in Sochi before the congress.”

Last week, the eighth round of UN-backed Syria peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland, ended without progress.

UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan De Mistura, described the talks as a missed opportunity.

Previous rounds of Geneva negotiations have failed to achieve results, mainly due to the opposition’s insistence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should cede power.

KD