The ever increasing number of mentions of the city of Astana across
Middle Eastern media sources can be largely attributed to the Syrian
peace talks that were held recently in
this city. Local commentators and analysts have been paying a lot of
attention to the results of the meeting, while arguing that they are
shaping a new balance of power in Syria and across the region. Unlike
all the meeting that were held in Doha, Istanbul and Riyadh over the
last three years, in Astana, Syria’s opposition forces were represented
by field commanders, thus breaking a sort of a monopoly on the
negotiations that was held by the so-called Supreme Commission for
Negotiations sponsored and controlled by Saudi Arabia.
