Turkey And Russia Agree On Draft Syria Ceasefire, Report Says

As Syria's ceasefire largely holds, residents trapped in Aleppo eagerly await crucial aid supplies after months cut off from the rest of the world. But one main highway stands in the way of delivering aid to rebel-held eastern Aleppo: Castello Road.
WASHINGTON — (CNN) Turkey and Russia have agreed on a draft nationwide ceasefire in Syria, the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported Wednesday.
The report cited a source saying that Ankara and Moscow would try to bring the ceasefire in effect at midnight. It said that “terrorist groups” — such as ISIS and the Al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra — would be excluded from the agreement.
It was not immediately clear if any of the Syrian rebel groups had agreed to the ceasefire plan.
A successful nationwide ceasefire hinges on many fighting factions laying down arms — forces from Iraq, Iran and Lebanon are also fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Some rebel groups have been armed and supported by the United States, and sectarian divisions still run deep in Syria.
Many attempts at ceasefires have crumbled over the years.
If the ceasefire succeeds, the regime and the opposition parties will start political negotiations led by Turkey and Russia in the Astana.
A turning point
The Turkey-Russia draft ceasefire comes six days after Syrian regime forces regained control of the key city of Aleppo — a major turning point in the country’s civil war that has raged for nearly six years and has killed an estimated 400,000 people.
Tens of thousands of civilians and rebels were evacuated from the city’s east under several deals brokered by Turkey and Russia.
Rebels had held eastern Aleppo for more than four years, and losing the territory has made a military an political opposition to the Assad regime less likely, analysts have said.
After the regime seized Aleppo, Russian President Vladimir Putin had said that a nationwide ceasefire was the next step in resolving the war.
Russia and Turkey are wielding increasing influence over Syria’s fate, as the UN Security Council failed several times to find a political solution to end the brutal war.
Russia shot down at least seven UN resolutions on Syria using its veto power as a permanent member of the Council. China vetoed six of those seven.
Turkey has insisted on playing a significant role in negotiations in it hopes to keep any territorial gains by Kurdish forces far from its border with the war-torn country.
Russia has been the closest and most powerful ally of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. It has carried out airstrikes against rebel groups opposed to the leader’s regime since September 2015.

The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. (Photo: CNN)

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