Report: Syrian truce ripening

Turkey, Russia said to be near accord on plan to offer sides

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the audience during a presidential awards ceremony in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the audience during a presidential awards ceremony in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.

BEIRUT -- Turkey and Russia are discussing a broader cease-fire for Syria after brokering the deal that evacuated rebels from eastern Aleppo, Syrian opposition factions said Wednesday.

Turkey's Anadolu news agency said Wednesday morning that Ankara and Moscow had reached an agreement, and Turkish media reports quoted Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying that a lasting cease-fire and political solution in Syria were "close." But no details were announced, and there was no confirmation from state officials.

A number of rebel groups said they won't agree to anything until they get more details.

Previous attempts at enforcing a nationwide cease-fire in Syria have failed. Despite the recent warming of ties between Russia and Turkey, which provide support to opposing sides of the war, the challenges for a cease-fire are immense.

[TIMELINE: Key events in Aleppo since the start of Syria’s uprising ]

Yasin Aktay, the spokesman for Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party, said the government is pushing for a cease-fire to be in place "as we enter 2017."

An official with one of the rebel factions confirmed that Russian and Turkish officials were debating a cease-fire proposal that would encompass all of Syria. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were ongoing.

The official said rebel groups were holding vigorous discussions over the possibilities, while an official with a different group said a proposal has not been formally presented to the opposition.

"It is difficult to accept or refuse the matter before we look at the details, of course," said the official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity about the rebels' internal talks.

The Anadolu report quoted unnamed officials as saying a plan for a cease-fire "in all regions" would be presented to the warring parties.

The truce wouldn't include "terrorist groups," Anadolu said. It's unknown what groups that would entail. Turkey regards both the Islamic State and U.S.-backed Kurdish forces as terrorists, and Syria refers to all rebel forces as terrorists.

It said peace talks in Kazakhstan would proceed under Russia and Turkey's leadership if the cease-fire holds, with the two acting as "guarantors" of any deal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman confirmed that Russia and Turkey were in "constant contact" to prepare for planned peace talks in Kazakhstan, but did not comment about the possibility of a cease-fire.

Rebels have opposed previous proposals, which would have allowed the government to continue its offensives around the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said later Wednesday that its embassy in the Syrian capital was hit by mortar fire, blaming the attack on "extremists" opposed to a peaceful settlement. It said a mortar round landed in the embassy courtyard without exploding and that another fell in the vicinity.

Mosayyeb Naimi, a Tehran-based political analyst, said it was unclear whether Turkey could corral Syria's fractured opposition.

"Turkey's ability to convince armed groups to accept the cease-fire is unknown, particularly because Turkey is involved in conflict with some of those groups," he said. Naimi added that though the Russians have made initial agreements with Turkey, they may be waiting for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to take office to discuss the U.S. role in the cease-fire process.

A top Russian diplomat, meanwhile, said a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would impose sanctions on Syria for chemical-weapons use is unacceptable to Moscow, which has veto power on the council.

A resolution, drafted by Britain and France and obtained by The Associated Press, would impose sanctions on an array of Syrian individuals, organizations and companies reported to be involved in chemical-weapons attacks. The resolution also would ban sales of helicopters to Syria.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the country's Tass news agency on Wednesday that the resolution "is categorically unacceptable to us. We warn them against attempts to fan tensions in the U.N. Security Council."

Also on Wednesday, activists in Syria said at least 20 civilians were killed in an airstrike on an Islamic State-held village in Deir el-Zour province in eastern Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Wednesday that several unknown warplanes bombed the village of Hajna the night before, killing 12 people from one family and 10 from another. It said at least 10 children were killed.

The activist group Deir Ezzor 24 said no one in the two families survived.

Information for this article was contributed by Vladimir Isachenkov and Mahdi Fattahi of The Associated Press and by Selcan Hacaoglu and Firat Kozok of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 12/29/2016

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