International Syria Support Group

The United Nations urged the United States, Russia, Turkey and Iran on April 6 to help establish a 72-hour cease-fire in Syria in order to deliver humanitarian aid, two days after a suspected chemical gas attack killed at least 86 people in the northern Syrian city of Idlib. 

The United Nations suspended all humanitarian convoys in Syria on Sept. 20 following a deadly air strike on aid trucks, as fighting intensified after the regime declared an end to a week-long truce, even as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the "cease-fire was not dead."

Turkey and Saudi Arabia are unlikely to launch ground operations in Syria in the light of Russian air forces already stationed in the country, RIA news agency cited Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on May 4.

Speaking about the crisis in Syria, Lavrov said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is not an ally for Russia to the extent Turkey is for the United States.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has expressed her concern about reports of "new Syrian regime offensives near Aleppo and east of Damascus." 

"The EU strongly supports the U.N. efforts to resume Syrian talks and push for the political transition for the sake of Syrians, the region and the world," Mogherini said in a statement.

A temporary truce in Syria fighting that started at midnight Damascus time (2200 GMT) on Saturday seemed largely to hold, Reuters reported.

Yet, some rebels claimed that there were what they called occasional violations in Hama province on part of government forces.

U.S. President Barack Obama has warned Moscow and Damascus the "world will be watching" their commitment to a looming ceasefire, as the 17-nation group backing the Syria peace process prepared to fine-tune the deal.

The fall of the town of Azez in northern Aleppo province where the Turkish military is pushing ahead with its cross-border artillery shelling campaign against U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia positions in Syria would mean emergence of a new refugee influx and security problem for Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an told his U.S. counterpart, President Barack Obama.

The United Nations should be able to deliver aid to all of Syria's 18 besieged areas within a week, a senior U.N. official said Feb. 18, after life-saving supplies reached five locations.

Turkey has accused Russia of war crimes after missile attacks killed dozens of civilians in five medical facilities and two schools in northern Syria amid escalating tension in the region. 

Turkey has praised an agreement between major powers to cease hostilities in Syria to provide humanitarian aid as "an important step" toward resolving the crisis, calling for the opportunity to be seized in order to pave the way for a political solution to the conflict.