ISIS tightens grip on Syrian government road to Aleppo
UN aid convoys head to two Syrian besieged towns
Turkey casts doubt on chances of ceasefire in Syria
DNA report suggests Ankara bomber was Turkish

ISIS tightens grip on Syrian government road to Aleppo
on Tuesday, ISIS fighters were reported to have tightened their grip on a Syrian government supply route to Aleppo as the army battled to retake the road as part of its campaign to seize the city. As Damascus accepted a US-Russian plan for a “cessation of hostilities” between the government and rebels due to take effect on Saturday, heavy Russian air strikes were also said to be targeting one of the last roads into opposition-held parts of Aleppo. Rebels say the exclusion of ISIS and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front will give the government a pretext to keep attacking them because its fighters are widely spread in opposition-held areas. [Reuters, 2/24/16]

UN aid convoys head to two Syrian besieged towns
On Tuesday, UN aid convoys headed to two Syrian towns besieged by government forces to deliver life-saving food and medicine to some 30,000 people, a UN spokesman said. The deliveries to the towns of Moadamiyeh and Kafr Batna, near Damascus, came after aid reached five besieged towns last week, part of a major push to reach civilians facing starvation. “These are the first of what we hope to be a series of deliveries to meet the needs of people that humanitarian workers have not been able to reach for a long time,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The convoys carried enough food and medical supplies to help some 20,000 people in Moadamiyeh and 10,000 in Kafr Batna, he said. [AFP, 2/24/16]

Turkey casts doubt on chances of ceasefire in Syria; pushes for PYD, YPG to be excluded from process
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused the West, Russia and Iran of all seeking to further their own interests in Syria and said on Wednesday he feared a US-Russian ceasefire plan would do little more than benefit President Bashar al-Assad. “If this is a ceasefire that is up to the mercy of Russia, which has brutally attacked the moderate opposition and aligned with Assad under the pretext of fighting Islamic State, we fear that the fire pouring over the innocent people will never stop,” Erdogan said. The president has also insisted that Syrian Kurdish militia group the People’s Protection Units (YPG) is a terrorist group and urged for it to be excluded from the cease-fire agreement. In an apparent response to US statements calling the YPG an effective partner in the fight against ISIL in Syria, Erdogan said the notion that the YPG was supported because it is fighting ISIL was a “great lie.” During his speech, Erdogan also touched upon Ankara’s ongoing rift with Moscow, claiming Russia is continuing to violate Turkish airspace. [Al Jazeera, AP, Reuters, AFP, Hurriyet, Today’s Zaman, 2/24/2016]

DNA report suggests Ankara bomber was Turkish: security forces arrest relatives
A DNA report from a suicide bombing that killed 29 people in the Turkish capital Ankara last week suggests the main perpetrator was Turkish-born, not Syrian as initially stated by the government, a senior Turkish security official said on Tuesday. The political wing of the YPG, a US partner against ISIS in northern Syria, has said the Turkish government has tried to pin the blame for the Ankara attack on it as a pretext for shelling its positions in Syria. The Turkish armed forces shelled YPG positions in northern Syria in the days after the Ankara bombing and launched air strikes on PKK camps in northern Iraq. Davutoglu said earlier on Tuesday that TAK’s claim of responsibility for the Ankara bombing was a diversionary tactic and that the Kurdish militant groups were all part of the same “terrorist structure.” Turkish police arrested the perpetrator’s father and brother. Both have been detained for “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization,” and nine more have been taken into custody for attending the TAK member’s condolence ceremony in Van. [Hurriyet, ANF, Reuters, Today’s Zaman, 2/24/2016]