Sochi Ends With Plans for New Syrian Constitution

A Russian-sponsored peace congress in the city of Sochi ended on Tuesday with a plan to form a committee to oversee the drafting of a new Syrian constitution, the Associated Press reported.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the constitutional committee will be based in Geneva and added that delegates present at Tuesday’s congress had already proposed some names.

Groups that did not attend the Sochi talks will also be given a chance to name representatives, Lavrov said.

The Syrian Congress of National Dialogue, which ran for one day on Tuesday, was boycotted by Syria’s main opposition group and Kurdish authorities.

The delegates who attended Tuesday’s talks have yet to reach a final agreement on the criteria for selecting members, the committee’s powers and its rules of procedure. These details will be hammered out in Geneva under the aegis of the United Nations, the AP said.

Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. envoy for Syria, who attended Tuesday’s congress, welcomed the initiative and said that he will develop the criteria for participants and choose a maximum of 40–50 people for the committee, according to the AP.

He said that Turkey, Iran and Russia have already submitted 50 candidates each and added that delegates who had boycotted Sochi will be included in the committee.

The U.N. envoy also said he would quickly set a process and schedule for drafting the new constitution “because Syria cannot wait.”

Some members of the Syrian opposition have spoken out against the proposed committee, saying that they reject the outcome of the Sochi conference.

Maya Alrahibi, a spokeswoman for Syria’s main opposition group, the Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC), said that they reject “the establishment of any constitutional commission at this stage,” according to Al Jazeera. Instead, the SNC wants to focus on a political transition before discussing a new constitution, she added.

Turkey Escalates Airstrikes on Afrin

Turkey escalated its aerial attacks on a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria as it presses on with its campaign against the Kurdish YPG militia based in the region, Agence France-Presse reported.

“Turkey’s aerial campaign against Afrin has escalated since Monday,” Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), told AFP.

Brusk Hasakeh, a spokesman for the YPG, said that “bombardment by Turkish aircraft has not stopped in some areas” since Monday, AFP reported.

Turkey launched “Operation Olive Branch” last week with the aim of driving the YPG from areas near its southern frontier. The SOHR said that at least 67 civilians have been killed since the fighting started, as well as at least 85 YPG fighters and 81 Turkey-backed rebels.

Meanwhile, Turkish humanitarian agencies are scouting for informal settlements in northern Syria in anticipation of a wave of displacement as civilians flee bombardment, AFP reported.

“We are ready to provide shelter for a maximum number of 50,000 civilians both in Azaz and in Idlib,” Kerem Kinik, head of the Turkish Red Crescent, told AFP.

Afrin has an estimated population of 324,000 people, AFP said, citing U.N. figures. Around 5,000 people have already been displaced by Turkey’s offensive.

U.N. Condemns Attacks on Hospitals in Rebel-Held Syria

The U.N. on Tuesday condemned attacks targeting medical facilities in rebel-held Syria, one day after airstrikes on Idlib put a hospital serving 50,000 people out of action, Reuters reported.

Two airstrikes on the Idlib city of Saraqib on Monday damaged the Owdai Hospital, which is supported by the aid charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, Reuters said. The 18-bed facility was attacked while receiving people wounded in a separate airstrike on Saraqib’s main market that same day.

“I am appalled by the ongoing attacks on hospitals and other medical facilities in northwestern Syria, depriving hundreds of thousands of people of their basic right to health,” Panos Moumtzis, U.N. regional coordinator for the Syria crisis, said in a statement on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

The U.N. official said that Monday’s attack on the Owdai Hospital marked the fourth time in 10 days that airstrikes had caused damage to a hospital in Saraqib, Reuters reported.

“The loss of the provision of these medical services, including surgical and reproductive health services, will have a staggering effect on vulnerable communities affected by this conflict,” he added.

Recommended Reads:

• The Guardian: Russia’s Syrian Peace Conference Teeters on Farce
• Politico Magazine: Trump Has Big Plans for Syria. But He Has No Real Strategy
• National Geographic: Iconic Ancient Temple Is Latest Victim in Civil War
• The National: Turkey Is Planting the Seeds for Future Catastrophe in Syria
• ABC: Syrians Wait in Fear as Decision to Extend Protected Status Looms