Staffan de Mistura

U.N.-hosted negotiations on the Syrian conflict planned for Feb. 8 in Geneva have been postponed until the end of that month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Jan. 27, after a meeting with a group of selected Syrian opposition representatives, though the United Nations said it could not confirm this information.

Russia, Iran and Turkey, the sponsors of peace talks between Syrian rebels and Damascus, agreed on Jan. 23 to establish a joint "mechanism" to monitor the frail truce in the war-torn country, at the end of the two-day talks in Kazakh capital Astana.

Representives from the Russian and the Turkish Chief of Staff have signed an agreement to define mechanisms and coordination regarding the flight security and cooperation of both countries during operations against "terrorist targets" in Syria following a meeting in Moscow, the Turkish Armed Forces announced on Jan. 12.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, discussed Syria over a phone call on Jan. 12 before scheduled peace talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana, and hours after Putin talked with his Kazakh counterpart. 

Thousands of people were evacuated on Thursday from the last rebel bastion in Aleppo, the first to leave under a ceasefire deal that would end years of fighting for the city and mark a major victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

U.S. President Barack Obama said he is "not optimistic" about Syria's future, as the U.N. warned time is running out to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Aleppo which has been pounded by air strikes for nearly a week.

Turkey has proposed sending an international aid convoy to Aleppo, the long-besieged Syrian city where around 300,000 people are facing shortages of food, medication and other essential supplies, at a critical meeting held in Swiss city Lausanne with the U.S., Russia and neighboring countries to Syria.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov agreed on Sept. 14 that a cessation of hostilities agreement in Syria was holding, and extended it by 48 hours to allow for increased humanitarian access. 

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu has exchanged views with his French counterpart on developments surrounding the Syrian conflict, with a particular focus on concerns stemming from renewed rebel shelling of government-held areas in the deeply contested northern city of Aleppo.

France will host talks next week with the Saudi, Qatari, Turkish and UAE foreign ministers on the breakdown in the Syrian peace process, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said May 4.