Turkey says Kurds driven back from Syrian town

Assad said a ceasefire could not mean “that everyone stops using their weapons”. “Moving weapons, equipment, terrorists or strengthening positions must all be forbidden”, the Syrian president added. If a terrorist group refuses the ceasefire, who will hold them to account?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a newspaper interview released on Monday that she favored establishing some sort of no-fly zone in Syria to protect an area where refugees could be safe from attack.

Blinken’s comment came in response to a question about Turkey’s ongoing assault against Kurdish forces in Syria.

Meanwhile, the president said that countering terrorism and achieving national reconciliation are the basis for the solution, noting that the current constitution of the country is the “protector of the state and its people”.

An offensive supported by Russian bombing and popular militias has brought the Syrian army to within 25 km (15 miles) of Turkey’s frontier.

He also said the US was pressuring Syrian Kurdish forces from exploiting circumstances to seize additional territory near the Turkish border.

The global plan is meant to bolster the chances for new peace talks, which began at the end of January but collapsed before getting off the ground amid mutual suspicion and opposition calls for the implementation of United Nations resolutions on protection of civilians and the lifting of sieges.

The U.S. State Department blamed the “Assad regime and its supporters” for the attacks, with spokesman John Kirby saying in a statement that they cast doubt on “Russia’s willingness and/or ability to help bring to a stop the continued brutality of the Assad regime against its own people”.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the attack was carried out by Russian warplanes.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed Russian Federation for the strikes in Azaz, which is close to the Turkish border, claiming Moscow had targeted the complex with ballistic missiles fired from the Caspian Sea.

“We can’t negotiate with the terrorists from ISIS”.

A Turkish official told reporters in Istanbul on Tuesday that Turkey would not conduct a unilateral military operation in Syria, but would participate in a joint ground operation with coalition partners.

A hospital in Idlib province run by Doctors Without Borders was destroyed, killing at least seven. Women and children were among the dead, he said.