UPDATE - 5th round Syria peace talks gets underway in Kazakhstan

UPDATES WITH RUSSIAN SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA ALEXANDER LAVRENTIEV'S REMARKS

By Diyar Guldogan, Selen Temizer and Aliia Raimbekova

ANKARA (AA) - The fifth round of peace talks aimed at ending the Syria conflict began Tuesday in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said.

"All the delegations that plan to participate in this important stage of the talks have arrived," Abdrakhmanov was quoted as saying by national news agency Kazinform.

Abdrakhmanov said nine representatives of armed opposition groups have gathered for indirect negotiations with delegates representing the Syrian regime.

Beside the three guarantor countries -- Russia, Turkey, and Iran -- and UN Special Representative for Syria Staffan de Mistura, delegations from Jordan and the U.S. will also attend the talks as observers.

Abdrakhmanov said agenda items include the creation of de-escalation zones in Syria, which was signed by the guarantor countries during a meeting in Astana on May 4.

Russian special envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, told reporters that it was too early to put in place de-escalation zones.

"There are difficulties not only in defining the borders of the de-escalation zones, but also with regards to documents regulating the creation of control forces in the zones," Lavrentiev told reporters.

Lavrentiev said an agreement was reached for two of four de-escalation zones but added that there remained issues with the Syrian city of Idlib and with the southern region.

"However, [we are] not far away from reaching a consensus on this issue," he said.

He also said Russian military police could in be deployed in the de-escalation and buffer zones, adding that they could be on location within two or three weeks after a document is signed on the second day of the Astana talks on Wednesday.

Following the Dec. 30 cease-fire, the first round of Astana talks was held on Jan. 23-24, brokered by Turkey, which backs the opposition, and Russia and Iran, which support the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests. Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed and in excess of 10 million displaced, according to the UN.