Syria army excludes rebel town near Damascus from truce
UN has high hopes for aid from Syria truce but airdrop flops
Syrian army recaptures town in Aleppo province from ISIS
UN to announce new round of Syria talks
Saudi warplanes to arrive at Turkey’s Incirlik air base
Turkey says Syria ceasefire is not binding if it threatens security 

Syria army excludes rebel town near Damascus from truce
On Wednesday, Syria’s army said it would exclude an important rebel bastion near Damascus from a ceasefire set to begin at the weekend because rebel forces there include jihadists. According to the agreement announced by the US and Russia, the truce does not apply to jihadists from the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) or al-Qaeda’s affiliate, al-Nusra Front. One-fifth of rebel fighters in Darayya are al-Nusra militants. “The Syrian army is committed to the decision of the Syrian leadership when it comes to the ceasefire, which will not include areas where al-Nusra Front and Daesh [ISIS] are fighting,” an army general said. “Therefore, Darayya is not included in the cessation of hostilities agreement, because al-Nusra Front is one of the factions inside the town,” he said. The general estimated between 1,000 to 2,000 anti-government combatants remained in the town. Darayya is the largest rebel bastion west of Damascus where fighting is still taking place, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) monitoring group. “It’s an essential opposition stronghold that has been out of regime control for nearly four years,” Abdel Rahman said. [AFP, AP, 2/25/16]

UN has high hopes for aid from Syria truce but airdrop flops
The UN’s first aid-drop over the Syrian city of Deir Ezzor, part of which is under siege by ISIS, may have been off-target. UN aid chief Stephen O’Brien told the UN Security Council (UNSC) that initial reports from Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) teams on the ground suggested that the first cargo of 21 tonnes of aid dropped over Deir Ezzor had landed in the target area as planned. Wednesday’s operation faced technical difficulties and “adjustments” were needed, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said. It added that it would try again when possible to deliver aid to the 200,000 civilians who have been trapped in a government-held area since March 2014. The Justice for Life Observatory in Deir Ezzor, said the cargo was significantly damaged and that the SARC had only been able to collect three of six containers because half had fallen into inaccessible areas. Of the 21 palettes dropped by parachute, four were damaged, seven landed in areas that cannot be reached in a “no man’s land”, while ten remain unaccounted for, Bettina Luescher of WFP said. [Reuters, AFP, BBC, 2/25/16]

Syrian army recaptures town in Aleppo province from ISIS
On Thursday, the Syrian army retook a strategic town from ISIS in the Aleppo province. This area includes the sole supply route cut off by ISIS for the city residents of Aleppo. SOHR said troops still needed to clear the jihadists from hills overlooking the key highway before it could be fully secured. The road through the town of Khanasser is the sole link between government-held areas in and around Aleppo, and those in the rest of the country. State news agency SANA hailed its recapture just two days after its fall to the jihadists. The army’s counteroffensive was backed by Russian air strikes which killed 20 ISIS fighters, said SOHR. The victory is key for Syria’s military access to the provincial capital, Aleppo city. ISIS seized Khanaser and surrounding hills on Tuesday, cutting the government’s main land route to the city. SOHR says the army and pro-government Shia militias were backed by Russian air strikes in the push on Khanaser. [AFP, AP, 2/25/16]

UN to announce new round of Syria talks
On Friday, the United Nations will name a new date for Syrian peace talks to recommence, the UN’s Syria Special Envoy Staffan De Mistura has said as plans for a ceasefire due to come into force at the weekend began to take shape. De Mistura was forced to abandon the first round of talks on February 3, saying more preparatory work was needed from the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), led by the US and Russia. Disputes over the composition of the delegations, the lifting of sieges and the agenda for the talks meant the first substantive talks in years failed to get off the ground. De Mistura said today he would brief the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Friday about his plan to reconvene the talks and announce a date, most likely March 4. Many expect the UNSC to endorse the terms of the new ceasefire in a resolution. [Reuters, AFP, Guardian, 2/25/16]

Saudi warplanes to arrive at Turkey’s Incirlik air base
Warplanes from Saudi Arabia are expected to arrive at Turkey’s Incirlik base on Friday to take part in missions in Syria. Two C-130 military cargo planes, carrying approximately 30 Saudi Air Force personnel and military equipment had already arrived at Incirlik on Tuesday to prepare for the deployment of fighter jets. Four F-15s will arrive at the base on Friday. With the arrival of the Saudi air support, there will be five foreign countries with aircraft at Incirlik for military missions in Syria. This is the first time a non-NATO country deployed military forces to Incirlik since the base entered into service in 1955. This will also mark the first time Saudi warplanes have been deployed at a Turkish base for military operations. [Hurriyet, Daily Sabah, Today’s Zaman, 2/25/2016]

Turkey says Syria ceasefire is not binding if it threatens security
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said the “cessation of the hostilities” agreement in Syria, which will begin on February 27, will not be binding for Turkey if the country’s security is threatened. Speaking in his hometown of Konya at a ceremony on Thursday, Davutoglu said Turkey would take necessary measures against the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing the People’s Protection Units (YPG) as well as ISIS. Turkey considers the PYD a terrorist organization due to its ties with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Although classifying the PKK as a terrorist organization, the United States says that in its opinion the PYD is not a terrorist group. Davutoglu said on Thursday that the YPG is no different from ISIS or the Nusra Front. [Today’s Zaman, Reuters, Hurriyet, Daily Sabah, 2/25/2016]