Morning Star.png Syria Retakes Aleppo Ground The Morning Star, London, 26 February 2016 Syrian government forces backed by Russian air support drove Islamic State (Isis) militants from the town of Khanaser in Aleppo province yesterday, following three days of heavy battles. Intense fighting continued to reopen the main road from Damascus to the city of Aleppo which was closed on Tuesday when a sudden Isis offensive led to the capture of Khanaser on the road and surrounding hills. Government forces and militia took back the lost ground yesterday. Syrian state news agency Sana reported further military successes yesterday in Homs, where Isis and Nusra Front positions were destroyed. Syrian warplanes also hit Isis targets in Palmyra, Bier al-Afaai and al-Mahsa to the east and south-east of Homs, hitting vehicles with fixed machine guns, and a Nusra site in Talbisa to the north of the city. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reported progress towards a planned ceasefire due to take effect at midnight tonight, with intelligence on terrorist groups exchanged between Moscow and Washington. But Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov took issue with statements made by US Secretary of State John Kerry and other politicians that Syria could be faced with a Plan B, involving partition, if negotiations fail. "We're perplexed by our Western partners, the US included, mentioning the existence of some kind of Plan B. Nothing is known on that one. We are considering no alternative plans," he told the Middle East - From violence to security conference in Moscow. Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Russia's priority remains "carrying out the plan, the initiative that has been voiced by the two presidents." President Bashar al-Assad's adviser Bouthaina Shaaban commented: "I don't know whether these statements were made to apply pressure. In any case, it should not be put on the Syrian government, which has agreed on the Russian-American initiative." The US-Russian ceasefire project does not apply to Isis and al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra. This was accepted by the Syrian government and by the Saudi Arabia-based High Negotiations Committee of supposedly "moderate" anti-Assad forces. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced yesterday that Saudi aircraft would arrive "today or tomorrow" at the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey. From: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-049e-Syria-Damascus-retakes-tracts-of-A leppo#.Vs_cfPl9600 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
