Turkey, Russia, Iran agree on mechanism to monitor Syria ceasefire violations

Turkey, Russia, and Iran have reached agreement on forming a three-party mechanism to monitor ceasefire violations in Syria, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Tuesday.

It appeared to confirm a previous report by Russian news agency, TASS, which on Monday cited an early draft communiqué as saying the three countries would set up a mechanism for monitoring the ceasefire.

In a related development, a jihadist group launched an assault and seized some positions from Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups in north-western Syria that are attending peace talks in Kazakhstan, rebel officials said on Tuesday.

Officials from the jihadist group, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, could not immediately be reached for comment. Fateh al-Sham was previously known as the Nusra Front. It changed its name after cutting its ties with al Qaeda last year.

An official in one of the rebel groups, Jabha Shamiya, told Reuters the attack in rural areas west of Aleppo began overnight, and it was the first time Fateh al-Sham had attacked the FSA groups in that area.

The commander of a second FSA rebel group, Jaish al-Mujahideen, told Reuters Fateh al-Sham aimed to “eliminate the revolution”, saying the group had seized “some positions”, though these were far from its headquarters.

(Reuters/NAN)