Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a special address about the coming ceasefire in Syria, urging world leaders to use this opportunity to end bloodshed in the region.  The statement was published by the Kremlin on Monday. Friends, I just had a telephone conversation with President of the United States of America Barack Obama. The phone call was initiated by the Russian side, but the interest was certainly mutual. During our conversation, we approved joint statements of Russia and the US, as co-chairs of the ISSG, on the cessation of hostilities in Syria.

The recent carnage in Ankara comes at a good time for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan has been demanding that the United States and other NATO allies support him in his war against the Kurds of Syria, who are, incidentally, regarded as allies by Washington in the war against ISIS. The Turks have been bombarding Kurdish positions and staging special ops raids, warning the Kurds against the dangers of becoming too successful in their drive to occupy territory vacated by a retreating ISIS.

There is discontent in the House of Saud, after the Kingdom’s unsuccessful military involvement in Yemen, and now talks of a potential ground operation in Syria, according to French political analyst Alain Rodier. Sputnik reports: The Saudi Kingdom isn’t doing very well — in addition to low oil prices that are ruining the nation’s economy, its ongoing military operation in Yemen against Houthi rebels is largely unsuccessful with Saudis beginning to lose their soldiers and planes. At the same time, Riyadh seems to be planning a military operation in Syria together with Turkey, Rodier said.

President Bashar Assad has announced that the parliamentary elections in Syria will be held on April 13, 2016. The announcement was made via an official statement released on Monday by Syria’s presidential office. It  came just hours after Russia and the US issued a joint statement on cessation of hostilities in this country. The ceasefire is due to take effect at midnight on February 27th. Their statement said the truce did not include ISIS and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

For months, the US and Russia have been busy wrangling over possible terms for a ceasefire in Syria.