The dire humanitarian situation in Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital, is likely to be on the agenda as Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran, Sergei Lavrov of Russia and Mevlut Cavusoglu of Turkey convened in the Kazakh capital Astana Friday, Hurriyet daily reported.

“The situation ‘on the ground’ will be considered” at talks, as well as “successes and difficulties in the process of de-escalation” said a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The meeting is expected to lay ground for a summit involving the presidents of the three countries in Istanbul on April 4.

A spokesman for Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Friday that talks were beginning as scheduled at 8:00 a.m.

More than 340,000 people have been killed since Syria’s brutal civil war started in 2011. It has since spiraled into a complex conflict involving multiple world powers.

Kazakhstan has hosted multiple rounds of talks on Syria since January 2017, backed by the three power brokers, most of which involved delegations from the Syrian government and opposition.

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