Turkey's President Erdogan has made several comments on the Syrian crisis and on Russia's intervention:
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.
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.
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."
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.
'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.
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:
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.
From our news desk:
Obama Says Truce Is 'Test' Of Russia's Intentions In Syria
U.S. President Barack Obama has challenged Russia to back peace rather than war in Syria and said a negotiated truce that is supposed to begin this week will be a "test" of Moscow's intentions.
Obama challenged recent assertions by Russian and Syrian leaders that they are winning the ground war against rebel groups in the "shattered" country.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops, backed by Russian air strikes, may have made "initial advances," but three-quarters of the country remains out of their control, Obama told reporters in California after an East Asian summit on February 16.
The president said Russia's and Syria's gains, moreover, have come at a horrible cost in human lives and displacement of thousands of Syrians, much of that the result of Russia's "indiscriminate" bombing.
"The real question in Syria is what is it that Russia thinks it gains if it gets a country that has been completely destroyed as an ally and that it now has to...spend billions of dollars to prop up," he said.
"A country has been shattered because [Assad] was willing to shatter it," he added, and Russia "has been party to that entire process."
What forced Russia to intervene in Syria was the Syrian regime's weakness, not its strength, Obama said.
"You send in your army when the horse you're backing isn't effective," he said, asserting that Russia's deep recession and faltering government revenues will not permit Moscow to support a long war there.
"Putin may think he's prepared to invest in a permanent occupation of Syria," Obama said, but "that's going to be pretty costly...If you look at the state of Russia's economy, that's not what would be best for Russia."
Obama said it would be smarter for Putin to help broker a peace settlement and political transition in Syria, and this week's truce gives him the opportunity to get started on that process.
The president's comments were echoed by other administration officials earlier on February 16.
State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said the United States expects Russia to honor the truce, which negotiators in Munich last week said should begin by February 19, and wants to "see some progress on a cessation of hostilities."
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the truce agreement is a "test" and "a new marker" for Russia.
"We will be keeping a close eye on who abides by it and who does not, and we will be in a position to say clearly, and to respond if necessary, if there are violations of that cessation of hostilities," Cook said.
Turkey trying to 'push all sides to escalate the situation in Syria': Damascus
Syria's permanent representative to the UN, Bashar al-Jafaari, has said that Turkey was trying to "push all sides to escalate the situation in Syria" and called for Ankara to be held accountable for shelling areas of northern Syria, Syrian state news agency SANA is reporting this morning.
Jafaari said that Turkey was "complicit" with Qatar and Saudi Arabia against Syria and its allies" and that "terrorism-supporting countries are suffering from [an] hysterical bout due to the Syrian Army's progress on all fronts."