Erdogan: We can strike targets in Syria
February 21, 2016, 6:21 pm

Sunday’s deadly attack in Damascus (and Homs) follows an earlier suicide bombing claimed by ISIL in the Syrian capital [Xinhua]

Citing an urgency of legitimate defence, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that “Turkey has the right to launch any kind of operation, in Syria and wherever else the terrorist organizations are located”.

On Thursday and Friday, Turkish fighter jets launched a number of raids against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq in retaliation for a deadly bus bombing in the capital Ankara.

Meanwhile, Kerry told reporters on Sunday that he had spoken with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and that the two had agreed “in principle” to a temporary truce that would begin very soon.

“We are giving life to what was promised in Munich,” he said.

“We are in fact making progress even as a I stand here today. We are closer to a cease-fire today than we have been,” Kerry said of his talks with the Russian foreign minister.

The challenge now is to get the Syrian warring parties to agree.

The Syrian government said it agrees to a temporary cessation of hostilities as long as this is not used by its enemies to regroup and launch further attacks.

Reports circulating in the Middle East press indicate that the Islamist extremist groups fighting to depose Syrian President Bashar Al Assad also agree to the plan provided Russia ends its bombing campaign of their positions and allow unfettered humanitarian access.

But prospects for a cessation of hostilities appeared to sway as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took responsibility for a dual bombing attack in Homs and the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday.

The Syrian government says that at least 107 people were killed in the dual attacks.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies