(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 17 people, including 5 women and 7children, were killed on Friday in Russian air strikes targeted the ISIS-held city of Raqqa northeastern Syria, the group's news agency and activists said.
The Russian strikes on the Islamic group's de facto capital have stormed civilians neighborhoods as well as the main hospital and the city's public park, Louai al-Hassan, Raqqa-based activist said.
Aamaq agency, the media wing of ISIS, said Islamic State fighters had killed five Russian soldiers on Thursday near the ancient city of Palmyra. The deadly strikes were a hit back for the soldiers, activists said.
In a surprise move last Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to withdraw from Syria after a fierce military campaign in support of Bashar al-Assad began on September 30.
The Russian aerial bombing killed thousands of Syrians and turned the tide in favor of the Assad regime as reports says Putin is involved in committing war crimes in Syria.
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FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
Rallies commemorating the fifth anniversary of Syrian revolution have renewed on Friday across Syria, taking advantage of three weeks of 'cessation of hostilities' ceasefire deal despite the paralyzed peace talks in Geneva.
In all rallies, people have assured their 5-year-old demand, 'The People Want to Bring Down The Regime,' as well as have rebuked federal region announcement northern Syria, saying Syria must be unified.
The unprecedented U.S.-Russian 'cessation of hostilities' agreement that came into effect on February 27, has slowed the pace of the war.
POLITICAL TRANSITION
On Friday after a fifth day of peace talks, the U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura said Syria's regime must do more to present its ideas about a political transition and not merely talk about principles of peacemaking.
"We are in a hurry," he told reporters after what he called an "intense" day and meetings with Syria's government delegation and the main opposition, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC).
De Mistura said he had given both sides weekend homework so the negotiations could speed up on Monday, and during the second week of discussions he would go deeper into the issue of a political transition.
Next week he aims to build "a minimum common platform" to better understand how to approach a post-war transition, which is the core issue to be tackled at the next round of talks in April, he said. "We are already aiming very clearly for that."
De Mistura said he had been impressed by the depth of the engagement in the process by the HNC, including substantive points on its vision of a peaceful transition.
Bashar al-Assad has rejected opposition demands he give up power as a precondition for lasting peace.
De Mistura said the talks saw "no walkouts, no excessive rhetoric, no breakdowns... despite the fact that I am obviously still detecting large distances" between the two sides.
Syrian monitoring group said at least 400,000 people killed, 70,000 wounded, 4 million displaced and 8 million refugees since revolution erupted on March 2011.
The Russian strikes on the Islamic group's de facto capital have stormed civilians neighborhoods as well as the main hospital and the city's public park, Louai al-Hassan, Raqqa-based activist said.
Aamaq agency, the media wing of ISIS, said Islamic State fighters had killed five Russian soldiers on Thursday near the ancient city of Palmyra. The deadly strikes were a hit back for the soldiers, activists said.
In a surprise move last Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to withdraw from Syria after a fierce military campaign in support of Bashar al-Assad began on September 30.
The Russian aerial bombing killed thousands of Syrians and turned the tide in favor of the Assad regime as reports says Putin is involved in committing war crimes in Syria.
.
FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
Rallies commemorating the fifth anniversary of Syrian revolution have renewed on Friday across Syria, taking advantage of three weeks of 'cessation of hostilities' ceasefire deal despite the paralyzed peace talks in Geneva.
In all rallies, people have assured their 5-year-old demand, 'The People Want to Bring Down The Regime,' as well as have rebuked federal region announcement northern Syria, saying Syria must be unified.
The unprecedented U.S.-Russian 'cessation of hostilities' agreement that came into effect on February 27, has slowed the pace of the war.
POLITICAL TRANSITION
On Friday after a fifth day of peace talks, the U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura said Syria's regime must do more to present its ideas about a political transition and not merely talk about principles of peacemaking.
"We are in a hurry," he told reporters after what he called an "intense" day and meetings with Syria's government delegation and the main opposition, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC).
De Mistura said he had given both sides weekend homework so the negotiations could speed up on Monday, and during the second week of discussions he would go deeper into the issue of a political transition.
Next week he aims to build "a minimum common platform" to better understand how to approach a post-war transition, which is the core issue to be tackled at the next round of talks in April, he said. "We are already aiming very clearly for that."
De Mistura said he had been impressed by the depth of the engagement in the process by the HNC, including substantive points on its vision of a peaceful transition.
Bashar al-Assad has rejected opposition demands he give up power as a precondition for lasting peace.
De Mistura said the talks saw "no walkouts, no excessive rhetoric, no breakdowns... despite the fact that I am obviously still detecting large distances" between the two sides.
Syrian monitoring group said at least 400,000 people killed, 70,000 wounded, 4 million displaced and 8 million refugees since revolution erupted on March 2011.
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