United Nations demands all parties to Syria war comply with halt in fighting

Feb 28, 2016, 03:27

Turkey has reservations about the viability of a ceasefire plan for Syria due to continued fighting on the ground, President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman said on Friday, hours before a U.S.-Russian deal was due to take effect.

If the current cessation of hostilities holds, it will be the first time a pause in Syria's five-year civil war has been negotiated by world powers.

The UN-mediated Syria peace talks, aimed at brokering a political solution between Syrian warring factions - Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's government and opposition forces - halted on February 3 after parties failed to see eye to eye on a number of issues.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura plans to resume the intra-Syria peace talks on Monday, March 7, provided that the ceasefire, which is set to come into force on Saturday, holds.

The cessation was formally endorsed by a unanimous UN Security Council an hour before it went into effect.

The Syrian government has previously said it would abide by the truce, but would have the right to retaliate for any attacks.

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Ibrahim Kalin also signalled that recent tensions between Turkey and the United States may be easing as Washington has become more "careful" in its support for Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters.

"Beware of this trick from the West and America", he said in an audio message. SANA said the two leaders stressed the importance of continuing to fight the Islamic State group, Nusra Front "and other terrorist organizations".

"We should not forget that 1,380 civilians have been killed and 5,789 injured by Russian and Regime airstrikes since Russia began its campaign in Syria, including attacks on at least three IDP and refugee camps", said UK Ambassador Matthew Rycroft.

A military response should be a last resort and should be proportionate, de Mistura said.

Ankara regards the main Kurdish militia in Syria, the People's Protection Units (YPG), as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said "some USA officials" had tried to "sabotage" the ceasefire plan "by interpreting it from such cardinally different points".

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The group has also been regarded by the U.S.as an ally operating on the ground in the fight against Daesh. An ongoing rift occurred betweenNATOallies Turkey and US over the designation of the PYD and YPG.

Davutoglu says that "where Turkey's security is concerned, we would not seek anyone's permission, we would do whatever is necessary" to defend the country.

Shelling was heard reverberating from the Daraya suburb, southwest of Damascus, as the suburb is controlled largely by the Nusra Front.

Fighting raged across much of western Syria right up until the cessation came into effect, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. All said they would keep fighting against the extremists.

"If implemented, and that's a significant if, the cessation could reduce the violence and get more food and aid to Syrians who are suffering and desperately need it", Obama said.

Although it has committed in principle to the truce, the main Syrian opposition umbrella group is deeply skeptical and has kept its meetings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, open while it seeks clarifications from the US about the mechanism for the implementation of the agreement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted Moscow would continue targeting "terrorist groups".

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Speaking to reporters in Washington on Friday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner called it "put up or shut up" time for Russian Federation to prove its seriousness about ending the fighting and starting a political transition by adhering to its pledge not to target "groups that we consider the moderate opposition".