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Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem on Monday said there had been an apparent change of attitude towards Syria by the US administration following the Russian plan for “de-escalation” zones. “It seems the United States, where (President Donald) Trump has said the Syrian crisis has dragged on too long, might have come to the conclusion that there must be an understanding with Russia on a solution.” Asked about US backing for Kurdish groups fighting Islamic State in northeast Syria, Moualem said that what Syrian Kurds were doing against the jihadist group was “legitimate” at this stage and fell within the framework...

BEIRUT, Lebanon — United States and allied aircraft will be banned from flying over much of Syria as part of a deal struck by Iran, Russia and Turkey to foster a cease-fire in the Syrian war, a senior Russian diplomat said Friday. But a State Department spokesman later said that the agreement, which the United States did not sign, does not “preclude anyone from going after terrorists wherever they may be in Syria.” The spokesman, Edgar Vasquez, said Russian officials’ interpretation of their own agreement “makes no sense.” A senior State Department official was at the talks in Astana, Kazakhstan,...

<p>US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday the United States would closely examine proposed de-escalation zones aimed at easing Syria’s civil war but warned “the devil’s in the details” and that much needed to be worked out.</p> <p>The deal to create “de-escalation” zones in the major areas of conflict in western Syria took effect on Saturday.</p>

Full text of the agreement reached between Iran, Russia and Turkey in Astana on May 4 on the creation of de-escalation areas in Syria has been released. The memorandum released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that the aim was “to put a prompt end to violence, improve the humanitarian situation and create favorable conditions to advance political settlement of the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic”. Full text of the agreement made between Iran, Russia and Turkey in Astane on May 4 is as follows: “The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation...

Speaking during his visit to Bahrein in a joint press meeting with the country’s Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Turkish President Erdogan commented on his army’s Euphrates Shield operation in the north of Syria.Erdogan said, “The step we took [in al-Bab] is locked onto a target. After this if we can take joint steps with coalition forces we will go towards Manbij and Raqqa. There we will form a safe zone in which we will allow for mainly our Arab and Turkmen brothers and sisters to settle into.”Turkey has been a long-time supporter of forming safe zones in Syria. Until...

BEIRUT — President Bashar al-Assad rejected the creation of safe zones for refugees and displaced people in Syria, an idea supported by U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a transcript from an interview with Yahoo News released on Friday. He signaled he would welcome cooperation with Washington in the fight against Islamic State, however, as long as the United States took a “clear political position” on Syria’s sovereignty and unity. Assad has cautiously welcomed the new U.S. administration’s focus on fighting the jihadists, in which Trump has held out the possibility of cooperation with Damascus ally Russia.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Friday his administration would build "safe zones" to try to help civilians trapped in Syria's bloody conflict, an idea that President Barack Obama said would be too hard to enforce. Mr Trump and Mr Obama spoke separately of the conflict after efforts to evacuate civilians from the city of Aleppo ground to a halt on Friday after weeks of bombardments by the Syrian army. "We're going to try and patch that up and we're going to try and help people," said Mr Trump, who takes over from Obama on Jan. 20. "We're going to...