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Istanbul (AFP) – The Syrian government and rebels exchanged prisoners on Saturday as an "important first step" in building trust between the parties to the conflict as part of a peace process led by Russia, Iran and Turkey, announced Saturday the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"Some individuals" were traded simultaneously in northwestern Syria, near the city of Al-Bab, near Aleppo, said the ministry, which called the project a "pilot project" ".
Britain's UK-based Human Rights Observatory based on sources in Syria said 10 prisoners on each side had been exchanged.
Russia, Iran and Turkey are working to bring peace to Syria as part of the process known as Astana.
Each country plays a key role in the conflict that erupted in March 2011. Russia and Iran intervened alongside the Syrian government to ensure its survival, while Turkey supported rebel groups in northern Syria in order to prevent the Kurds of Syria from establishing and extending its territory along its border. .
All say that they are fighting Islamic State fighters and other jihadists in the northern regions.
Turkey has recently abandoned its original goal of seeing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad leave power by strengthening cooperation with Russia over Syria.
In September, Turkey and Russia agreed to create a buffer zone to avoid an offensive by the Syrian regime, but jihadists, who hold about 70 percent of the area, refused to withdraw.
The Astana process has gradually eclipsed a UN-sponsored negotiating framework known as the Geneva Process, bringing together the United States and the European powers as the main donors of an international reconstruction program. post-conflict situation in Syria.
Obstacles to securing Western aid to reconstruction include the insistence of the US and the EU on a transition that would see Assad leave, as well as the presence of Iranian and under-command fighters Iranian in Syria.
