Syrian opposition leader Riyad Hijab has arrived in Geneva, the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee says.
IS militants open fire on Turkish soldiers near Syria border: Anadolu
IS militants opened fire on Turkish military personnel near the Syrian border in the southeastern town of Karkamis on Feb. 3, the state-run Anadolu agency reported.
The gunfire came from the IS-controlled town of Jarabulus as the soldiers were engaged in mine clearance activities, the report says.
Syrian government Aleppo offensive threatens peace talks -- is that deliberate?
A Syrian government offensive, backed by heavy Russian air strikes, on rebel-held areas of Aleppo is threatening to derail UN efforts to get peace talks off the ground, the BBC reports.
A Syrian army colonel told the AFP news agency that it planned to break a long-running rebel siege of two pro-government Shia villages, Nubul and Zahraa, and also to cut a rebel supply route from Turkey to opposition-held parts of Aleppo.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Russian warplanes had carried out more than 320 air strikes in the area since Monday morning.
At least 18 civilians, including three children and two emergency workers, were killed in the raids on Tuesday, the UK-based monitoring group said.
Why is the Syrian government, and Russia, both of whom say they are on board with the talks in Geneva, acting in a way that could jeopardize those talks?
The Soufan Group think tank argues in a report today that the recent attacks by the Assad government in Aleppo "appear calculated to bring the peace talks to a halt."
Noting that Russia's actions in Syria appear to contradict its signals that it wants peace talks to succeed, Soufan Group writes:
Russia may calculate that Assad’s fortunes can rise still higher before he need negotiate, but they are just as likely to fall again before the war is over. The key objectives for all external parties must be to have rebel forces join the Syrian army in an assault on the Islamic State, and then on JaN, while a transitional process slowly works out a political settlement
AFP's Maya Gebeily has these comments from the Syrian opposition delegation HNC's Mohammed Alloush.
Alloush was asked about his views on the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia which is fighting against the IS group in northern Syria.
Fresh momentum in Syria talks?
The main Syrian opposition delegation to the peace talks, the HNC, says that its leader will arrive in Geneva early this evening.
Syria talks can't continue unless 'certain sides' change tack: Iran's Larijani
Iran's powerful parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, has said that the Syria peace talks in Geneva cannot continue unless "certain countries in the region" changed their approaches.
The Tasnim news agency reports:
Certain countries sitting at the negotiating table to resolve the Syrian crisis pursue their own interests and make instrumental use of terrorism, Larijani said in a meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier here in Tehran.
Unless their approaches are corrected, continuation of the Syria talks would be more like a “joke”, he stated.
So which countries was Larijani talking about? The parliamentary speaker went on to "lash out" at "the Saudi regime's military approach in the Middle East."
Iran's foe Saudi Arabia is backing the leading Syrian opposition faction in the talks, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC).
Russian media claims 'Al-Nusra Front Leader' killed in air strike in Aleppo
The Russian media is circulating a claim that a leader of the Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front has been killed in an air strike in the town of Anadan in northern Aleppo province.
The reports say that the identity of the alleged Nusra leader is unknown.
Why report this unconfirmed rumor? The pro-Kremlin press has been focussing on reports of gains by Syrian government and allied forces backed by Russian air strikes as Syria peace talks started (and as they falter) in Geneva this week.
UN strains to keep Syria talks alive: Reuters
The United Nations is straining to keep the faltering Syria peace talks alive today, as Russia vowed to continue its air strikes until all "terrorists" were defeated, Reuters reports.
UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said that peace talks formally started on Feb. 1 in Geneva but both opposition and government representatives have insisted that, in fact, the talks have not yet begun. Meanwhile fighting continues on the ground in Syria -- and so do air strikes and sieges.
Russia's air campaign in Syria proving successful -- for Moscow (and Assad)
The Washington Post notes this morning that, four months after starting its air strikes in Syria, Moscow is confident that its operation there is paying off -- for Russia and for its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces have gained ground against moderate and Islamist rebels.
Under the banner of fighting international terrorism, President Vladimir Putin has reversed the fortunes of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which were rapidly losing ground last year to moderate and Islamist rebel forces in the country’s five-year-old crisis. Government forces are now on the offensive, and on Tuesday, they scored their most significant victory yet, seizing the strategic town of Sheikh Miskeen from rebels who are backed by a U.S.-led coalition.