– UN to restart Syria peace talks on March 9
– Jordan says operation near Syria border foiled ISIS attacks
– Syrian government forces open new battle with rebels in northwest
– Kurdish-led fighters close in on Syria’s Aleppo city
– Ankara denies it is blocking NATO’s Aegean operation; EU returns 150 migrants to Turkey
– Turkey’s Diyarbakir governorate bans entry to Sur ahead of protest march

UN to restart Syria peace talks on March 9
The United Nations will delay the next round of Syria peace talks by two days to allow the cessation of hostilities in force since Saturday to take hold, UN Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said. International observers acknowledged violations of the agreement intended to halt nearly five years of fighting while reporting that the level of violence decreased considerably. “We are delaying it to the afternoon of [March] 9 for logistical and technical reasons and also for the ceasefire to better settle down,” de Mistura said Tuesday. The cessation of hostilities was “a glimmer of hope,” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said, although he accused the opposition of violating the agreement. On Wednesday, Syrian opposition official George Sabra said dates for a resumption of the peace talks remained hypothetical as long as the current truce does not fulfill its humanitarian demands. [Daily Star, AFP, BBC, 3/2/2016]

Jordan says operation near Syria border foiled ISIS attacks
Jordan said Wednesday that a raid near its border with Syria that killed seven suspected jihadists had foiled attacks being plotted by the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) in the kingdom. ISIS had planned “attacks against civilian and military sites in order to destabilize national security,” Jordan’s intelligence services said in a statement. An officer in the security forces was also killed in the raid on a building in Irbid, just north of Amman, that sparked several hours of fighting until dawn on Wednesday, officials said. “The terrorists refused to surrender and put up strong resistance using automatic weapons,” the statement said, adding that the dead jihadists were wearing suicide vests. Thirteen people linked to the cell were arrested and automatic weapons and explosives were seized, it added. [AFP, Reuters, AP, BBC, 3/2/2016]

Syrian government forces open new battle with rebels in northwest
Syrian government forces launched an attack Wednesday to capture a rebel-held hill in northwestern Syria, a rebel official and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported, an expansion of operations that have continued in that area despite the ceasefire. Rebels said the assault on Kabani hill in the province of Latakia was supported by Russian air strikes. The hill overlooks the rebel-held town of Jisr al-Shughour in neighboring Idlib province and the Ghab Plain. “The regime and militias are trying to storm [the hill] under very fierce Russian air cover and artillery fire,” said Fadi Ahmad, spokesman for the Free Syrian Army’s First Coastal Division. SOHR Director Rami Abdulrahman said, “If the regime is able to capture Kabani hill, the insurgents will be in a difficult position.” [Reuters, 3/2/2016]

Kurdish-led fighters close in on Syria’s Aleppo city
Syrian opposition activists and state media say a Kurdish-led fighting alliance has captured Castello hill overlooking a main road in Aleppo from the Nusra Front and its allies in a surprise offensive aimed at encircling the northern city. The predominantly Kurdish US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) offensive on Wednesday most likely does not break the ceasefire that came into effect Friday, because the Nusra Front is excluded from the agreement. Syrian state TV reported that pro-government gunmen captured Castello hill, “cutting supply lines for terrorists” in eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo with southern parts of the Aleppo province. The Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the primary component of the SDF, also announced Wednesday that 43 of its fighters were killed when ISIS militants attacked the town of Tel Abyad on the Turkish border this weekend. [AP, 3/2/2016]

Ankara denies it is blocking NATO’s Aegean operation; EU returns 150 migrants to Turkey
Ankara has denied the accuracy of a report which has suggested that NATO vessels deployed in the Aegean Sea to help stop the flow of migrants to Europe have not yet started operating in Turkish waters because they have not been given permission yet from Turkey. “We don’t feel it necessary to respond to the comments, the source of which we do not know and which are obviously fabricated and most probably aimed at creating provocation. Work is going on to have NATO activity conducted as planned,” Turkish officials said on March 2. Meanwhile, the European Union returned migrants who crossed into EU territory to Turkey, as part of a deal reached last year. The migrants will stay at Turkish state-run facilities until their country of origin is determined, at which time they will be deported. Turkey offered on to sign readmission agreements with 14 countries, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said on Wednesday. The move would enable it to more quickly take back migrants rejected by the European Union. [Hurriyet, Today’s Zaman, 3/2/2016]

Turkey’s Diyarbakir governorate bans entry to Sur ahead of protest march
Speaking on Monday, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas called on people to march on Wednesday to protest the more than 90-day-long curfew in Diyarbakır’s Sur district. “This is a democratic right guaranteed by the constitution,” he said. In remarks to reporters in parliament on Wednesday, Interior Minister Efkan Ala commented on Demirtas’s call, saying it was an open provocation, and that “those who make provocations bear the consequences.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged prosecutors to take legal action against the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the Diyarbakir Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched a probe into the party’s co-chairs. In a statement released on its website on Wednesday the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office said that on Wednesday no one would be allowed to enter the district except those residing there in order to secure public order. [Hurriyet, Anadolu Agency, Today’s Zaman, 3/2/2016]