Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that agreement on the observation flight over Turkey requested by Russian Federation under the Treaty on Open Skies could not be reached on the mission plan, so it did not occur.
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The thousands fleeing Aleppo have spent their first night in temporary shelter at the Turkish border but the crossing remains closed. Aid workers said the refugees were being directed to nearby camps.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, under growing pressure over her open door policy for refugees amid Europe’s biggest such crisis since World War II, pledged 2.3 billion euros.
Turkey already hosts more than two million people who have fled the war in Syria.
The civilians heading to the border must also dodge other players, including Islamic State, which has been exploiting the Assad offensive to resume bombardments of towns held by moderate and Islamist militias half an hour from the border crossing at Kilis, a Turkish border town.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Saturday at a meeting with European foreign ministers and their Turkish counterpart that EU support for Turkey “is aimed exactly at guaranteeing” that the country can handle the influx of refugees. Turkish authorities increased security at the crossing, and the pro-government A Haber news channel said all police and military leaves were canceled.
The numbers could swell dramatically if the Syrian government succeeds in its apparent goal of encircling the rebel-held portion of the city of Aleppo, where an estimated 300,000 people are living, according to the United Nations. This week alone, Russian warplanes hit close to 900 targets across Syria, including near Aleppo.
He said the Saudi government had indicated a willingness to do more in the fight against Islamic State, which controls vast swaths of Syria and Iraq.
“Now the northern countryside (of Aleppo) is totally encircled, and the humanitarian situation is very hard”, he said.
“The trajectory for the rebels is downwards, and the downward slope is increasingly steep”, said Emile Hokayem, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
“I can say, from the achievements for our armed forces… that we are now on track to end the conflict”, he said.
He called on rebel fighters to “come to their senses” and lay down their weapons.
Top diplomats from countries trying to resolve the conflict are set to meet again next week after United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura suspended the floundering Geneva negotiations until February 25.
A Syrian minister has warned any foreign ground troops entering the country “will return to their countries in coffins”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russian Federation must be held accountable for the civilians it had killed in Syria – saying between them Moscow and Damascus were responsible for the deaths of 400,000 people. “But even if it happens, it won’t be bad because they would be definitely defeated”.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Revolutionary Guard Corps Brigadier-General Mohsen Ghajarian has been killed in Aleppo province, as had six Iranian volunteer militiamen.
Iran, a longtime ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, acknowledges that Iranian officers are providing an advisory role in Syria, but denies sending combat troops. A number of Iranians have been killed in recent months, including several high-ranking commanders.
The main insurgent groups in the city are the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham group; the Nour el-Din Zengi; the Tawhid Brigade; and the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s branch in Syria.
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Syrian state TV and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army and its allies had seized the town of Ratyan north of Aleppo.
