The truce will not cover the Islamic State group and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.
AP NEWS: Russia's Foreign Minister says he hopes
Washington will keep its obligations under a Syria truce deal negotiated by
Russia and the U.S.
Sergey Lavrov voiced hope Thursday that the White House will
respect the deal envisaging the cease-fire to take effect at midnight Friday
local time.
Lavrov was asked to comment on a Wall Street Journal report
alleging that some administration officials were pushing for ways to increase
pressure on Moscow. Lavrov said in comments carried by Russian news agencies
that there is no alternative to the cease-fire deal.
The agreement was announced Monday after President Barack Obama
spoke with Russia's President Vladimir Putin by telephone, capping weeks of
intense diplomacy to stem the violence. The truce will not cover the Islamic
State group and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.
The U.N. special envoy for Syria says he will convene the first
meeting of a task force meant to monitor the cease-fire in Syria that will go
into effect at midnight Friday. Staffan de Mistura predicted a
"crucial" day ahead of the start of the truce brokered by the United
States and Russia.
Various sides in Syria's civil war have a noon Friday deadline
to say whether they will abide by the deal, which excludes U.N.-designated
terrorist groups like the Islamic State organization and al-Qaida's branch
known as the Nusra Front.
De Mistura spoke to reporters Thursday in Geneva. Also at the
press conference was his top humanitarian adviser, Jan Egeland.
Egeland said convoys have reached 110,000 people over the last
two weeks, including the hard-hit eastern Ghouta region in the last three days.
A spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry says Russia is
seeing progress ahead of the start of a truce in Syria.
Maria Zakharova is also lauding efforts by Russia and the United
States — the two countries that engineered the truce — to makes sure the
cease-fire holds.
The cease-fire is to go into effect on midnight Friday. The
Syrian opposition has agreed to abide by the truce but expressed major concerns
about what it said were ambiguities and the lack of clear mechanism to
implement the agreement.
Zakharova also told reporters on Thursday that the U.S. and
Russian militaries have begun exchanging intelligence on terrorist groups in
Syria.
Turkey's prime minister says he is concerned that Russia will
continue to hit Syrian civilians or the moderate opposition during the upcoming
truce agreed
Ahmet Davutoglu has accused Russia of striking the moderate
opposition in Syria in the past five months under the guise of hitting Syria's
al-Qaida branch, known as the Nusra Front.
He says the cease-fire would have "no meaning if Russia
continues with its irresponsible bombings."
Meanwhile, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on
Thursday told state-run Anadolu Agency that Saudi aircraft will arrive
"today or tomorrow" at the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey to
join the fight against Islamic State in Syria.
Cavusoglu did not say how many planes Saudi Arabia would be
sending to the base.
Turkey's prime minister has warned a Syrian Kurdish militia
against taking advantage of an upcoming truce in Syria for actions that
threaten Turkey's security.
Ahmet Davutoglu says his country will respond to such actions
and that Turkey will not be bound by the cease-fire agreement due to be
implemented this this week if the Kurdish militia poses any threat.
Davutoglu spoke on Turkish TV on Thursday.
Ankara considers the Syrian Kurdish group a terror organization
because of its links to Turkey's own Kurdish rebels and has been shelling the
militia's positions inside Syria along the border with Turkey.
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.
Syria's state-run news agency and an opposition monitoring group
say government troops have recaptured a town in Aleppo province from Islamic
State militants.
The victory is key for Syria's military access to the provincial
capital, Aleppo city.
SANA says the army took the town of Khanaser on Thursday, after
three days of heavy battles with the extremist group.
The report says heavy fighting was ongoing to reopen the road to
Aleppo city. IS seized Khanaser and surrounding hills on Tuesday, cutting the
government's main land route to the city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition
monitoring group, says the army and pro-government Shiite militias were backed
by Russian airstrikes in the push on Khanaser.
The advance comes ahead of a cease-fire meant to start on
midnight Friday.
ANY WARS... END WITH PEACE TALKS ONLY
