The 13th round of talks on Syria, scheduled for Thursday and Friday in the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan (previously known as Astana), is expected to focus on the situation in Idlib Province and the formation of the Syrian Constitutional Committee. 

The talks are joined by Iran, Turkey and Russia, as well as representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition. UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Khawla Matar will also attend with a delegation, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said. 

Lebanon and Iraq, two main recipients of Syrian refugees, will join the talks for the first time. CGTN's Syria correspondent Alaa Ebrahim said the involvement of Syria's two neighbors will strengthen the momentum of the Astana peace process for settling the Syria issue.

Ebrahim also said the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib tops the agenda of the talks, noting that government forces recently made "minor but significant gains" in the last major stronghold held by Turkey-backed rebels.

Fighting in Idlib and parts of nearby Hama has preceded the talks. The Russian-backed Syrian army seized a handful of villages, fields and hills in the Hama countryside in the past two days, a military media unit for Lebanon's Hezbollah, which fights alongside Damascus, said on Thursday. 

In rare public comments, the Syrian army's political chief pledged to seize Idlib if Russia does not reach a diplomatic solution with Turkey.

Major General Hasan Hasan, head of the Syrian army's political bureau, said on Thursday that "the military path to eliminate terrorism in the north is ongoing."

He told the pro-government al-Watan newspaper that it would be good if Moscow or Tehran can find a solution through talks with Ankara, which has forces stationed in Syria's northwest.

"But at the same time, when matters reach a dead end, then the Syria Arab Army which cleansed all these vast areas... will not stop at all, neither at Idlib nor at any area," he said.

Idlib falls within a "de-escalation zone" agreed on by Russia and Turkey last year. However, the wave of violence in the region since late April has killed more than 400 civilians and forced more than 440,000 to flee towards the Turkish border, the United Nations said last week. 

Violence on the ground has often compromised apparent "major breakthroughs" made during the talks, Ebrahim noted.

On the other hand, some local media expect the formation of the Syrian Constitutional Committee to be the focus of the talks. 

The 150-member committee is designated to amend Syria's current constitution or draft a new one for post-war Syria. The new body will consist of members from the Syrian government, the opposition and civil society.

Gerd Pedersen, the UN Syria envoy, said in July that the United Nations is close to an agreement with Syria on setting up the committee. 

The Astana peace process was launched in January 2017 by Russia, Iran and Turkey in Astana, later renamed Nur-Sultan, to bring warring parties in the Syrian conflict to the table to find a political solution to the crisis.

(With input from Reuters, Xinhua) 

(Cover: A man reacts on the rubble after airstrikes by government forces on the town of Arihah in Idlib Province, Syria, July 28, 2019. /VCG Photo)