– Syrian government troops retake Aleppo supply route from ISIS
– Russia calls for consensus on opposition group designations in Syria
– Russian air strikes killed twenty-three civilians, say Syrian activists
– Turkey detains nine ISIS suspects planning suicide attacks
– Turkey’s President Erdogan says new constitution should be priority
– Iraqi leaders attend funeral of invasion backer Chalabi

Syrian government troops retake Aleppo supply route from ISIS
Syria’s state news agency and activists report that government troops have regained control of a major road linking the contested northern province of Aleppo with the country’s central provinces from Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) militants. The Syrian Observatory said that government troops on Wednesday routed ISIS extremists from the Khanasser-Atharayya road, southeast of the city of Aleppo, after nearly two weeks of fighting. The road is the government’s lifeline to areas it controls in Aleppo province. State news agency SANA says residents can begin returning to their homes along the road on Thursday. [AP, Reuters, 11/4/2015]

Russia calls for consensus on opposition group designations in Syria
On Wednesday,Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that it was necessary to agree on which groups would fall under terrorist groups and which groups to consider as legitimate opposition groups in Syria before the next round of talks on the Syria crisis in Vienna takes place. Lavrov added at a news conference with UN Syria Envoy Staffan de Mistura that Russia actively supported de Mistura’s efforts in resolving the Syrian crisis, adding that the “entire spectrum” of Syrian society should be represented at the negotiating table, and reiterated Russia’s traditional stance that the fate of embattled President Bashar al-Assad should be decided by “the Syrian people.” De Mistura said it was important to work on the formation of an inclusive government in Syria and said that the UN was ready to bring representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition together for talks in Geneva. [Reuters, AP, AFP, 11/4/2015]

Russian air strikes killed twenty-three civilians, say Syrian activists
Airstrikes believed to have been carried out by Russian warplanes on an ISIS-held town in central Syria killed twenty-three civilians, an activist group said Wednesday. Among those killed in the Monday strikes on the Homs province town of Al-Qaryatain were three children and a woman, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. According to the Observatory, the first month of Russian strikes killed nearly 600 people, two-thirds of them fighters. The rest, some 185, were civilians, it says. [AFP, 11/4/2015]

Turkey detains nine ISIS suspects planning suicide attacks
Police in Turkey’s southern province of Gaziantep have detained nine alleged ISIS militants who were planning suicide bomb attacks on the offices of a political party in Istanbul. The Gaziantep governor’s office said late Tuesday that the group may also have been planning attacks on the offices of a newspaper in Istanbul and Ankara. It was not clear when the arrests were made, but the governor’s office said the group planned to create “fear and chaos” prior to the election that took place Sunday. Two of the suspects were detained after they hurled hand grenades at police during a car chase. The seven others were detained in police raids. [AP, 11/4/2015]

Turkey’s President Erdogan says new constitution should be priority
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey’s parliament should prioritize discussions on a new constitution, in his first major speech since the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won back its majority in a snap election over the weekend. Speaking in the capital on Wednesday, Erdogan said that Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu would consult opposition leaders on rewriting the constitution. If those negotiations failed, Erdogan said he would back a decision to consult the electorate on the issue. Erdogan added that Turkey would continue its fight against Kurdish insurgents until every last militant was “liquidated.” Soon after he spoke, the general staff said on its website that two soldiers and fifteen Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants had been killed in clashes near the village of Daglica by the Iraqi border, which the military had targeted with air strikes on Tuesday. Turkish jets also pounded PKK targets in northern Iraq on Tuesday for a second day, the military also said. [Guardian, 11/4/2015]

Iraqi leaders attend funeral of invasion backer Chalabi
Top Iraqi officials attended a funeral Wednesday for politician Ahmed Chalabi, a controversial champion of the US-led invasion of his country. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum, Parliament Speaker Salim al-Juburi, and other officials were among the large crowd of mourners at the ceremony held in Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone, where the government is headquartered. Chalabi, the head of parliament’s Finance Committee, died of a heart attack at age 71 on Tuesday. [AFP, 11/4/2015]