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ISTANBUL: Turkish state media on Wednesday said Turkey and Russia had agreed a nationwide truce plan for Syria but none of the key players in the conflict offered an immediate confirmation.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said the plan aims to expand a ceasefire in the city of Aleppo — brokered by Turkey and Russia earlier this month to allow the evacuation of civilians — to the whole country.
If successful, the plan would form the basis of upcoming political negotiations between the Damascus regime and the opposition, overseen by Russia and Turkey in the Kazakh capital Astana, it added.
But in a speech in Ankara after the report was published, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made no reference to the plan, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he could not answer on an issue “about which I don’t have enough information”.
Meanwhile, a Syrian rebel source, who asked not to be named, told AFP in Beirut that details still had to be submitted to opposition fighters and said there was no agreement as yet.
“The armed revolutionary factions have not received any official proposal for a ceasefire in Syria,” Labib Nahhas, head of foreign relations for the powerful Ahrar al-Sham rebel group added on his official Twitter account.
“News talking about their approval of a ceasefire is incorrect.” An official from the High Negotiations Committee — which oversees political talks of the Syrian rebels — said there was no information about a ceasefire so far. There was also no reaction from the Syrian regime.
Anadolu said both sides were working for the ceasefire to come into force at midnight but gave no further details on its implementation.
The report came after Ankara has hosted a succession of closed-door talks between Russia and Syrian opposition rebels over the last weeks.
Qatar-based channel Al-Jazeera said a new meeting is planned on Thursday in Ankara, this time between military representatives of Syrian rebels and Russia.
It remains unclear how the latest ceasefire plan will apply to Fateh al-Sham, formerly the Al Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, which has worked more closely with the rebels since changing its name.
Published in Dawn December 29th, 2016
