The Syrian rebel delegation has no plans to sign a communique at the Astana talks, its spokesman Yahya al-Aridi told reporters on Tuesday, the second day of indirect negotiations between the rebels and the Damascus government.</s>The talks are the latest attempt to forge a political settlement to end a war that has by most estimates... . U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura arrives to attend the talks on Syrian peace in Astana, Kazakhstan, Monday, Jan. 23, 2017.

Start the conversation, or Read more at KTEN-TV Denison.</s>ASTANA (Sputnik) — The talks are expected to begin at 7:00 GMT in the capital of Kazakhstan. According to country’s foreign ministry, the talks are expected to conclude on Tuesday.

“We are working hard,” de Mistura said, refusing to answer any further questions.</s>UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told reporters that the work was continuing. He also had a short conversation with Ansari.

On Monday, Lavrentiev said that the first day of the Syrian peace settlement talks in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana was rather successful with the final document being under discussion.

Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!</s>BEIRUT -- An explosion rocked a camp for displaced Syrians along the Syrian-Jordanian border Saturday, killing at least six people and wounding many others, opposition activists said.

The explosion near the border came despite the Dec. 30 cease-fire, sponsored by Russia and Turkey, who back opposite sides of the conflict. Syria continues to be beset by violence, including clashes between government forces and rebel fighters as well as a number of offensives against Islamic State militants in the country.

Talks between government officials and rebel representatives and attended by Russian, Turkish and U.N. officials are scheduled for Monday in the Kazakh capital, Astana, to discuss reinforcing the cease-fire and ensuring humanitarian access.

President Donald Trump's administration will not send a delegation to this week's Syrian peace talks, sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran, because of the "immediate demands of the transition," the State Department said Saturday, and the U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan was expected to attend as an observer.

Some rebel factions have agreed to send representatives, but militant group Jabhat Fatah al-Sham slammed the talks Saturday as a conspiracy.

Jabhat Fatah al-Sham said other rebel factions had been pressured by their foreign patrons to attend and that the end result would be to drive a wedge between Syria's insurgents. Rivalries have plagued Syria's insurgents. Infighting as well as splits and failed mergers have been reported in recent weeks -- further weakening their ranks.

"Negotiations in Astana about the fate of the country and its people are not the right of one side," the group said in a statement. "Those who risk the battlefield and bypass must realize the consequences in the future."

In the explosion at the camp near the Jordanian border, Mohammed Hassan al-Homsi, an opposition activist with the Palmyra News Network, said a small truck carrying blankets was detonated from afar, killing at least six civilians at the Rukban camp, including a man, his wife and two children.

Badr Abu Sultan, a resident of the Rukban camp, said the explosion occurred outside the local market.

"There was a powerful explosion at the beginning of the market," said Abu Sultan, a member of a tribal council in the camp.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the explosion caused a cloud of smoke over the area. A video posted by the Syrian Media Organization also showed some tents burning, as parts of the car bomb were scattered across the camp. The Observatory, which has a network of activists on the ground, put the death toll at 11, including the family of four, and four militiamen. Another opposition activist network, the Palmyra Coordination group, said the explosion hit a checkpoint for a local militia near the market.

The camp houses a militia targeted in the past by rival factions in Syria's war.

A Jordanian military official ruled out that any Jordanian was hurt in the explosion inside Syrian territory. He told the official Jordanian Petra news agency that 14 wounded people were admitted to the Jordanian health center at the border used to treat Syrians.

Meanwhile Saturday, the Russian military said six of its long-range bombers struck Islamic State positions in Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria. The raid came as Syrian government troops in Deir el-Zour found their numbers cut in half in an ongoing Islamic State offensive against the last remaining pockets of government control.

The extremist group controls most of the province, except for the provincial capital and a nearby air base, and the offensive that began earlier this month is described as the group's most intense in a year.

The Russian Defense Ministry said six Tu-22M3 bombers flew from their base in Russia to strike Islamic State facilities in Deir el-Zour province Saturday. It said they successfully hit all designated targets, including the militants' camps, weapons locations and ammunition depots.

Activists in Deir el-Zour said civilians were fleeing amid intense shelling from Russian, Syrian and coalition jets and fighting on the ground.

Russian fighter jets from Hemeimeem air base in Syria's coastal province of Latakia provided cover for the bombers, according to the ministry.

Russia has conducted an air campaign in Syria since September 2015, helping Syrian government forces to reverse the tide of the nearly six-year conflict.

Information for this article was contributed by Dominique Soguel, Maamoun Youssef and Vladimir Isachenkov of The Associated Press.</s>ASTANA (Reuters) - The Syrian rebel delegation has no plans to sign a communique at the Astana talks, its spokesman Yahya al-Aridi told reporters on Tuesday, the second day of indirect negotiations between the rebels and the Damascus government.</s>A picture taken on January 22, 2017 shows men at work to prepare the Syria peace talks conference room at Astana' Rixos President Hotel. The talks, set to begin on Monday, will be the first time a delegation composed exclusively of rebel groups will negotiate with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Peninsula.</s>WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Initial indications related to the progress of the intra-Syrian peace talks in Astana appear unpromising, US Senator Robert Menendez told Sputnik.

“The early reports [on Astana talks] don't seem promising… I’m certainly hopeful that the ceasefire continues to hold … but I’m not sure how much more will come out of it," Menendez said on Monday.

Earlier on Monday, Russian delegation's head Alexander Lavrentiev said Syrian peace settlement talks in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana were rather successful with the final document being under discussion.

“Before we start engaging with Russia we have to see whether it is ready to come back the international order and the rules-based process we have established that has worked well for the world,” Menendez added.

The Syrian settlement talks in Kazakhstan's capital brokered by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran, started on Monday and are expected to last through Tuesday. The talks brought together the delegation of the Syrian government and representatives of armed opposition groups for the first time since the beginning of the state's civil war in 2011.</s>ASTANA (Sputnik) — Syrian opposition is not planning direct negotiations with the Iranian delegation in Astana on Tuesday, opposition delegate Naser Hariri told Sputnik.

"The will be no direct meetings or talks with the Iranians, we have not planned anything," Hariri said.</s>MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian delegation at the Syrian peace talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana, earlier handed over to the Syrian armed opposition proposals on a draft new constitution of the country.

"There are proposals and ideas that could be discussed, they could be really useful, after all," Bogdanov told Sputnik.

The Syria talks were held in Astana on January 23-24. They were initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who proposed establishing in Astana a site of the Syrian peace process in addition to Geneva.
Peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, between the Syrian opposition and the Syrian Government, meant to build on a fragile ceasefire currently in effect in the Syrian Civil War, end with no breakthrough reported.