Turkey has no plans for Syria ground op: official
Turkey has no plans for a unilateral ground operation in Syria, a spokesman and aide to President Tayyip Erdogan has said, according to Reuters.
"We have repeatedly said we will act in line with the coalition. Therefore any preparations towards (a ground incursion in Syria), unilateral or with Saudi Arabia or other countries, is out of the question," Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference
Peskov discredits SOHR (again) over claims Russia is bombing Syrian opposition
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this morning that there are no facts to support claims that the Russian air force is bombing Syrian opposition groups east of Damascus.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 10 air raids have hit Douma in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta.
Peskov's denials included another attempt to discredit the source of the information by making another jab at SOHR, which the Kremlin has previously accused of being a tool of the British government.
"We know that this Observatory has repeatedly given information that has unfortunately not been confirmed and which was not supported by any data. I'm not talking about credible data, just any data," Peskov said.
RIA Novosti went on to claim that SOHR "only has two employees (a manager and a secretary-translator) and its leader, Rami Abdurahman has not completed high school. In a media interview Abdurahman said that he lives permanently in London, where he runs a snack bar."
But RIA Novosti has got its information wrong. Abdulrahman lives in Coventry, not London, and is open about the fact that he owns and runs a clothing store.
Turkey has 'serious worries' about Syria ceasefire: Presidential spokesman
Turkey has serious worries about the Syrian ceasefire deal due to ongoing fighting, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said this morning, hours before the US-Russian deal was due to start, Today's Zaman reports.
Military action in Syria won't stop after ceasefire starts: Peskov
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that military action in Syria will not stop after the start of the ceasefire.
"Of course, the Russian air force will continue their operation in Syria. The operation is carried out in support of the military forces of that country and is carried out against terrorist groups -- the IS group and the Al-Nusra Front and others who have been determined in the relevant UN Security Council list," Peskov said.
"It is clear also that even after the ceasefire enters into force, the offensive against terrorist groups will not stop and is not planned [to do so]. This is one of the conditions agreed in the initiative between the United States and Russia."
Russian company building mills, grain elevators in 'liberated' territory in Syria: RIA
Russian engineers are building grain mills in government controlled areas of Syria, RIA Novosti reports this morning.
The engineers are from the Russian company Sovokrim, which is based northeast of Moscow and which manufactures equipment for the grain-processing industry.
The mill projects in Syria are worth 70M Euro and the first mill is being constructed in the town of Talkalakh in Homs province, which has been retaken from rebels by government troops, according to Sovokrim's representative in Syria, Hidal Ahmad.
The construction is being supervised by specialists from Russia who are working with Syrian engineers and workers, RIA said. The project is being financed in full by the Syrian government.
"We plan to build a total of four mills. The total value of the contract to build the mills in Talkalakh is 16,740,098 Euro. Construction of the mills is happening now, the area's security has been guaranteed. Another three mills will be built after the completion of the facility in Talkalakh," Ahmad told RIA Novosti.
According to Ahmad, Sovokrim has not worked in Syria previously.
Ahmad concluded his comments to RIA with praise for Russia.
He said that Sovokrim had managed to sign contracts for the construction of the mills and grain elevators in Damascus on a "non-competitive basis" thereby ousting the Turkish, Swiss and German companies that had operated in Syria before the war.
"All this is thanks to the position of Russia with respect to the Syrian people, the government and its President Bashar al-Assad," Ahmad gushed.
We are now closing the live blog for today. Join us again tomorrow morning for more of our coverage of Islamic State.
Kerry: Iran has withdrawn IRGC from Syria
Iran has withdrawn a "significant number" of its Revolutionary Guards troops from Syria, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said, AFP are reporting.
"The IRGC has actually pulled its troops back from Syria. Ayatollah Khamenei pulled a significant number of troops out. Their presence is actually reduced in Syria," Kerry told U.S. lawmakers, referring to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"That doesn't mean that they're still not engaged and active in the flow of weapons from Syria through Damascus to Lebanon. We're concerned about that and there's an ongoing concern."
Full text of Russian FM Lavrov's comments on Syria "Plan B"
The Russian Foreign Ministry has published a transcript of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's comments to reporters's questions about U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's remarks about a "Plan B" for Syria should a ceasefire and talks fail.
I have translated the conversation in full below. The original in Russian is here on the Foreign Ministry website.
Q: Have the Americans told you anything about their Plan B for Syria?
Lavrov: We have another priority right now.
Q: Does that mean "no"?
Lavrov: You've already said everything yourself about a Plan B: there isn't one and never will be one.
Q: We won't have one?
Lavrov: No one will have one.
Q: When could a vote on the Russian draft resolution on Syria in the UN Security Council take place?
Lavrov: At any moment.
Syrian gov't says Nusra Front allies fire mortars on Damascus, one dead
The Syrian government has said that militant groups allied with Syrian Al Qaeda affiliate the Al Nusra Front have fired mortars onto residential areas of Damascus, killing at least one person.
The mortars hit the Mezzeh neighborhood and Ommayad Square in Damascus, Reuters report, and come amid intensive airstrikes against rebel-held suburbs including at least 30 barrel bombs on the besieged area of Daraya eight km south of the capital.