Turkey wants secure strip on Syrian side of border: Deputy PM
Turkey is calling for the creation of a secure zone 10 km inside Syria along its southern border, including the strategic border town of Azaz, Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan has said, Reuters reports.
Syria aid trucks to set off from Damascus: Red Crescent
At least 100 trucks of humanitarian aid were preparing to travel from Damascus to besieged areas of Syria this morning, including Madaya, Zabadani and Mouadamiya al-Sham near Damascus, and the rebel-besieged Shi'ite villages of Fua and Kefraya in Idlib province, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent has said.
The Syrian government has approved the delivery of aid to areas besieged by rebel and government forces after crisis talks in Damascus on Feb. 16.
The Syrian Red Crescent tweeted these photos of the convoy of aid trucks this morning:
'No consensus' for ground operation in Syria: Reuters
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that his country, as well as Saudi Arabia and some European allies, want ground troops deployed in Syria, but there is no consensus in the coalition.
"Some countries like us, Saudi Arabia and some other Western European countries have said that a ground operation is necessary ... But to expect this only from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar is neither right nor realistic," he said in an interview.
"If such an operation is to take place, it has to be carried out jointly, like the (coalition) air strikes," he said.
PKK leader tells RIA Novosti that Turkey supports jihadists in Syria
In a move that is guaranteed to annoy Turkey, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency has published comments from Murat Karayılan, one of the co-founders of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist group.
Karayılan, who is commander in chief of the PKK's armed wing, alleged that Ankara is supporting Syrian groups including the Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate.
"Together with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey has supported jihadist groups [in Syria], which have spun off from Al-Qaeda. The Justice and Development Party has an ideological kinship with Salafist groups that are Al-Qaeda offshoots. These states supported and armed radical Salafist groups in Syria, who are working to build Shari'a law," Karayilan was quoted as saying.
"Against this background, the Syrian Kurds from the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and other Kurdish forces are very different because of their modern, secular outlook on life and state building. This is the reason for the hatred the jihadists have toward the Syrian Kurds," he added.
Karayilan argued that if Syria's Kurds establish an independent state, then the 20 million Kurds living in Turkey will want to do the same.
After hospital attack, Damascus says MSF is cover for French intelligence in Syria
Responding to international outrage after yesterday's strikes that killed 11 people and destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Marat al-Numan in Syria's Idlib province, Syria's UN envoy slammed not those who carried out the attack -- widely thought to have been Russia -- but Doctors Without Borders.
"The so-called hospital was installed without any prior consultation with the Syrian government by the so-called French network called MSF which is a branch of the French intelligence operating in Syria," said Ambassador Bashar Jaafari, according to AFP.
"They assume the full consequences of the act because they did not consult with the Syrian government," Jaafari added.
"They did not operate with the Syrian government permission."
Russia won't get bogged down in Syria: Kremlin spokesman
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that Russia will not get bogged down in Syria because it is carrying out specific tasks there that have already seen concrete results, Interfax reports.
Russia's line in Syria was "consistent, clear and transparent," Peskov said.
Russia. U.S. military to discuss Syria ceasefire on Feb. 19: Interfax
The Russian and U.S. militaries will meet on Feb. 19 as part of a working group to discuss the implementation of a ceasefire in Syria, Interfax has reported, citing Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov.
Other countries from the International Syria Support Group will also attend the meeting, Gatilov said.
Gatilov also said that decisions on a no-fly zone over a part of northern Syria could not be made without agreement from the United Nations and the Syrian government.
Turkey's President Erdogan has made several comments on the Syrian crisis and on Russia's intervention:
Turkey won't stop shelling Syrian YPG: Erdogan
Aid trucks have begun leaving Damascus: Red Cross
A spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross has told the BBC that aid trucks have begun leaving Damascus, heading for a number of besieged villages and towns.
The trucks are heading to rebel-held Madaya, Zabadani and Moadamiya al-Sham near Damascus -- all besieged by the Syrian government.
Aid trucks are also traveling to the Shi'ite villages of Fua and Kefraya, which are blockaded by rebel forces including Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate the Al-Nusra Front.