Date: Dec 18, 2018 Source: The Daily Star U.N. Syria envoy to meet key players on postwar constitution GENEVA/ANKARA: The outgoing U.N. envoy for Syria will meet top diplomats from Iran, Russia and Turkey this week in a final bid to make headway toward a new Syrian constitution, his office said Monday. The talks scheduled for Tuesday in Geneva will likely be one of Staffan de Mistura’s last meetings with major players in the Syrian conflict, as the veteran UN diplomat is due to step down in the coming days. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will attend, a spokesperson from his office said. A Turkish diplomatic source told AFP that Ankara’s top envoy Mevlut Cavusoglu will be in Geneva along with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The U.N. did not immediately confirm the list of attendees. De Mistura is trying to set up a U.N.-backed constitutional committee for Syria that would include 50 members chosen by Damascus, 50 by the opposition and 50 by the United Nations, before stepping down later this month. The planned constitutional committee was agreed at a Russia-hosted conference in January. The centerpiece of U.N. peace efforts in Syria, the committee would be tasked with negotiating a new postwar constitution that would pave the way to elections aimed at turning the page on seven years of devastating war. But it has run into objections from the Syrian government. The opposition has pushed for an entirely new constitution, but Damascus has said it will only discuss altering the current one. In October, Damascus rejected a list presented by de Mistura of 50 civil society representatives and technical experts. Separately, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey may start a new military operation in Syria at any moment, adding the White House has responded positively to Ankara’s plans to push into territory where its forces have not previously operated. The Pentagon has expressed grave concern, saying unilateral military action by any party in northeast Syria - where U.S. forces operate - would be “unacceptable.” But Erdogan suggested that U.S. President Donald Trump was more receptive to Turkish plans to move east of the Euphrates river than his own U.S. Defense Department. “We officially announced that we will start a military operation to the east of the Euphrates, “Erdogan said in a speech in the central province of Konya Monday. “We discussed this with Mr. Trump and he gave a positive response.” He did not elaborate on Trump’s response, but said Turkey would take care to avoid American casualties. Turkey and the United States have long been at odds over Syria policy, where Washington has backed the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia against Daesh (ISIS). Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist organization tied to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an outlawed group that has waged a 30-year insurgency in southeast Turkey. Erdogan said last week that Ankara would launch a new campaign within days against the YPG, although he has yet to give a more definitive timeline. Any new campaign is likely to be complicated by the presence of U.S. soldiers in northern Syria. Turkey has already intervened to sweep YPG and Daesh militants from territory west of the Euphrates over the past two years, but has not gone east of the river - partly to avoid direct confrontation with U.S. forces. The Pentagon says it has about 2,000 troops in Syria. “We can start our operations on Syrian soil at any time from locations that suit our planning. Our heroic army has completed its preparations and plans. As I always say, we may come suddenly one night,” Erdogan said Monday. Trump told Erdogan that Turkish troops were not to enter the Syrian town of Manbij, which lies west of the Euphrates, according to a person briefed on the issue. However, Erdogan has said Turkish forces will enter Manbij if the U.S. does not remove YPG fighters from the town and will also target the eastern side, where the YPG controls an area stretching more than 400 kilometers along the border toward Iraq. Manbij is near an area where Turkish and U.S. troops began joint patrols last month. That cooperation has also been complicated as Turkey has shelled Kurdish fighters to the east of the Euphrates. The shelling prompted the U.S. to set up observation posts on the border between Kurdish-held northern Syria and Turkey. Separately, Ankara has kept up regular air strikes against PKK militants based in Iraq’s mountains. Baghdad summoned Turkey’s ambassador Friday after Ankara said it killed eight PKK fighters. But Turkish warplanes have since carried out further strikes.