– New offensive by Assad’s forces overshadows Syria peace talks
– Jordanians ‘at boiling point’ over Syria refugees
– Donors face record request of $9 billion to aid Syrians
– Turkey-Syria border nearly ISIS-free, says Kerry

New offensive by Assad’s forces overshadows Syria peace talks
Rebels said the new assault on Aleppo, backed by heavy Russian air strikes, was unprecedented and that the divided northern city might soon be encircled. Russia will not stop its air strikes on Syria until armed groups are defeated, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday. The talks faltered on Tuesday after the opposition canceled a meeting with the UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura in outrage at several hundred Russian air strikes since Monday. US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Russia should stop bombing opposition forces in Syria now that peace talks have started and urged Syrian opposition negotiators to remain in peace talks despite the bombardment. “Russian strikes will not cease until we really defeat terrorist organizations like Jabhat al-Nusra. And I don’t see why these air strikes should be stopped,” Lavrov said at a news conference in Oman. Lavrov also said it would be difficult to impose a ceasefire unless Syria’s border with Turkey was secured to prevent smuggling and the movement of fighters.Both the government and opposition have said that talks have not begun and fighting on the ground has continued. [Reuters, AFP, BBC, NYT, 2/3/2016]

Jordanians ‘at boiling point’ over Syria refugees
Ahead of a donor conference on Syria, King Abdullah of Jordan said that there was enormous pressure on Jordan’s social services, infrastructure, and economy. “Sooner or later, I think, the dam is going to burst,” he warned. He said the international community would have to offer more help if it wanted Jordan to keep taking refugees. Various sources estimate there are between 630,000 and 1.27 million Syrian refugees in the country. [BBC, 2/3/2016]

Donors face record request of $9 billion to aid Syrians
International aid to the victims of Syria’s five-year war has persistently fallen short, but organizers of Thursday’s annual Syria pledging conference in London hope for greater generosity this time around, despite a record request of close to $9 billion for 2016. The expectations are partly based on the reframing of the aid debate over the past year, following the chaotic migration of hundreds of thousands of desperate Syrians to Europe. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has said to British Prime Minister David Cameron that the United States will soon announce “significant new contributions” to assist Syria’s humanitarian crisis. [AP, Guardian, 2/3/2016]

Turkey-Syria border nearly ISIS-free, says Kerry
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday, during a press conference at the anti-Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) coalition meeting in Rome, that the US-led coalition has conducted over 10,000 air strikes against the ISIS terrorist group in Syria, which have crushed the terrorist’s financial mechanisms and oil refineries, and that the coalition has nearly full control over the Syria-Turkey border. One of the remaining obstacles in the anti-ISIS fight in Syria is the group’s hold on several towns close to the country’s border with Turkey in the north. The US and Turkey are working to accelerate efforts to dislodge ISIS from the northern Syrian town of Jarablus, just next to the Turkish border. [Daily Sabah, Today’s Zaman, 2/3/2016]