US and Russia succeed in having fragile ceasefire extended to city

Vladimir Putin’s decision to withdraw his forces from Syria puts Russia in a powerful position as negotiations on the future of the war-torn country get under way, writes Mark Galeotti

Nina L Khrushcheva says the Russian president has an unlikely bedfellow in Donald Trump, whose bullying style from the stump is similar to his own

In a move raising the potential threat of a Russia-NATO conflict, Russia says it will deploy long-range air defence missiles to its base in Syria and destroy any target that may threaten its warplanes after the downing of its military jet by Turkey.

A Russian airman who survived the downing of his military jet has said Turkish jets did not issue any warnings before the incident.

Latest: Turkey says it warned the Russian jet several times before shooting it down.

Russian military jets have carried out air strikes in Syria for the first time, targeting what Moscow said were IS positions.

The UK government and mainstream media say Syria president Bashar Al-Assad is killing his own people in Syria. 

Russian president Vladimir Putin has strongly defended Moscow’s military aid to the Syrian government, saying it is impossible to defeat the Islamic State group without co-operating with Damascus.

The Russians have reportedly reinforced positions around Bashar al-Assad’s stronghold of Latakia in western Syria with at least seven T90 tanks and artillery at the town’s airfield.

Russian troops have arrived in Syria in recent days to aid Bashar Assad’s beleaguered government in the battle against Islamic State militants, Israel’s defence minister said.

At least seven people have been killed and more than 40 others wounded by a car bomb in the port city of Latakia in Syria.

Syria has handed over the remaining 100 tonnes of toxic material it declared to the global chemical weapons watchdog, clearing the way for destruction of the stockpile at sea, sources said yesterday.

Syria’s air defence chief was killed during an offensive by president Bashar al-Assad’s forces against rebels east of Damascus, Islamist rebels and a monitoring group said.

More than 45% of the raw materials for Syria’s poison gas and nerve agent programme scheduled for destruction outside the country have been shipped out, the world’s chemical weapons watchdog has said.

The UN-Arab League envoy to Syria has ended a visit to Damascus, calling on both the government and the opposition to attend a peace conference in Geneva later this month.

Israeli warplanes attacked a shipment of Russian missiles inside a Syrian government stronghold, officials said yesterday.

Jihadi-led rebel fighters in Syria killed at least 190 civilians and abducted more than 200 during an offensive against pro-regime villages, committing a war crime, an international human rights group said.

Government forces have killed at least 18 rebels in clashes in central Syria, activists said.

Syrian government warplanes bombed a predominantly Sunni village and killed at least 20 people, opposition activists said, as government forces pushed to retake territory in the western heartland of President Bashar Assad’s Alawite sect.

Syrian government forces bombed a strategic rebel town in the country’s north for the third straight day, pounding it with airstrikes that killed at least five people, activists said.

Syrian government forces appear to have recently made use of cluster bombs, weapons banned by most countries because of the danger they pose to civilians, a New York-based rights watchdog has said.

Members of Syria’s armed opposition have subjected detainees to torture and committed summary executions, an international human rights group has said.

Nato’s governing body will meet tomorrow to discuss the Syrian downing of a Turkish plane.

Turkey’s president has said his country will take “necessary” but unspecified action against Syria, a day after Damascus said it had brought down a Turkish military plane that had entered its airspace.

Syria said it shot down a Turkish military plane that entered Syrian air space, while Turkey vowed to “determinedly take necessary steps” in response.

A Turkish air force jet went down in Syrian waters today, but Turkey’s prime minister said he could not confirm media reports that it had been shot down by Syrian forces.

Syrian troops have shelled rebel-held areas and clashed with opposition fighters in several locations across the country today, activists said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has revealed three aid workers suffered minor injuries in Syria when an explosion hit their convoy.

The Syrian government has denied the country is in a state of civil war, saying it is facing “an armed conflict to uproot terrorism”.

Syrian rebels have pulled out of villages around the besieged mountainous town of Haffa after days of fierce shelling, a rights group said today.

Syrian government forces pounded areas in the central province of Homs today in a renewed push to regain control of rebel-held territories, and activists said at least 38 people were killed in shelling there over the past 24 hours.

Syrian troops have heavily shelled a rebel-held neighbourhood in the flashpoint central city of Homs as the military appeared to be readying to storm the area, activists said.

Syrian troops are shelling the rebel-held neighbourhood of Khaldiyeh in the central city of Homs, according to activists.

Syria was hit by a third lethal car bombing as UN teams readied for a government-led humanitarian mission and to work to launch a monitoring operation to end a year of bloodshed.

Two suicide car bombers struck Syrian security compounds in the northern city of Aleppo yesterday, killing 28 people officials said, while in besieged Homs, opposition areas endured another day of bombardment by President Bashar al-Assad’s troops.

Syrian forces have detained and tortured children as young as 13 as president Bashar al-Assad’s regime tries to crush a nearly 11-month-old uprising, Human Rights Watch said, as fresh clashes erupted between regime troops and rebels in the country’s south.

SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to strike “terrorists” with an iron fist and derided the Arab League for its attempts to halt violence in a 10-month-old revolt against his rule.

Syria’s president Bashar Assad has said he will respond to threats against him with an “iron hand” and refused to step down, despite the 10-month-old uprising against him.