PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, and European Union officials tour a refugee camp in southeast Turkey on Saturday


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Germany has become the most significant supporter of a long-time Turkish proposal for safe zones for Syria’s displaced civilians.

After a tour of refugee camps in Turkey on Saturday, Merkel called for “zones where the ceasefire is particularly enforced and where a significant level of security can be guaranteed”.

In summer 2014, Turkey proposed a 98-kilometer (61-mile) long and 40-kilometer (25-mile) deep safe area in northern Syria along the Turkish-Syrian border.

The US has considered proposals for no-fly zones since 2012, but President Obama has rejected them. Washington has held out against the Turkish plan for almost two years, calling instead for a focus on the fight against the Islamic State.

Turkey hosts about 2.7 million of the 4.8 million refugees from the five-year conflict. More than 7 million people are displaced inside Syria.

Despite a February 27 cessation of hostilities, another wave of 100,000 displaced has surged in northern Aleppo Province from both Islamic State fighting with rebels and a foreign-led regime offensive north of Aleppo city. With Turkey no longer taking in refugees, the displaced are in a series of ad hoc camps on the Syrian side of the border.

Turkey and the European Union have signed an agreement for refugees arriving in Greece to be moved to Turkish camps, in return for EU financial support and a series of political measures desired by Ankara.

However, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu — who toured the camp in the border town of Gazaiantep with Merkel and EU officials — said that the agreement will not be fulfilled without EU visa liberalization for Turkish citizens.

EU Council President Donald Tusk announced that the 28-member bloc will spend 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) this summer on projects to improve the lives of Syrian refugees, as he praised the Turkish efforts as the “best example”.

Syrian Opposition Criticizes UN Envoy

Syrian opposition coordinator Riad Hijab, who also toured the Gazientep camp, criticized the efforts of UN envoy Staffan de Mistura amid the breakdown of political talks in Geneva:

For two years, Mr de Mistura was appointed in his task as a U.N. envoy and during this period the killing was increased or doubled in Syria and also the number of villages and areas that were under siege also increased where is Mr De Mistura and his team.

The opposition-rebel High Negotiations Committee formally suspended participation in the Geneva talks last week, citing continued regime bombing, sieges, and detentions.

The regime delegation has continued to meet de Mistura, but it is refusing to negotiate over the future of President Assad.

See Syria Daily, March 21: Regime — We Don’t Need the Opposition-Rebel Bloc in Geneva Talks

Hijab said on Saturday:

We put our participation in the negotiations on hold to respect the Syrian blood that is shed under strike from the regime and its allies and to respect the Syrians who are killed of hunger following the siege and to respect Syrians who are killed under torture.


Videos: More Regime Airstrikes in and near Aleppo

Regime airstrikes in and near Aleppo city are reported for the fourth day in a row.

Video and pictures have shown casualties from the Sakhour and Muwasalat sections of the city. Strikes are also reported on Shaar and Qarlaq.

Footage from Sakhour, where 10 people were said to be killed and 30 injured:

Two men are pulled alive from rubble:

White Helmets rescuers respond to an attack on a vegetable market:

Another strike on the city:

Attacks are also reported on Hama and northern Homs Provinces.

A summary from opposition Orient News of the earlier attacks that have killed dozens of people in Aleppo city:


1 Killed, 26 Wounded by ISIS Rockets on Southeastern Turkey

One person has been killed and 10 wounded by Islamic State rockets fired on the border town of Kilis in southeastern Turkey.

Two Katyushas fired from Syria hit a mosque, just 100 meters from the Kilis Governor’s Office. Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan was in the Office at the time.

Five Syrian refugees are among the casualties.

Earlier in the day, a total of 16 people, including children, were wounded when two rockets fired from ISIS positions in northern Syria hit Kilis Province.

The Turkish Army responded with artillery fire across the border.

The Islamic State has periodically fired rockets into Turkish towns and villages. Akdoğan said a total of 16 people have been killed by 45 rocket launches into the province since January 18.


Kurds Announce Ceasefire Terms with Regime in Qamishli

The Kurdish police have announced the terms of the ceasefire with regime officials that ended three days of fighting in Qamishli in northeast Syria on Friday.

Battles in the mainly-Kurdish city, near the Iraqi and Turkish borders, began with clashes between the police, known as the Asayish, and the pro-Assad National Defense Forces militia. According to Kurdish officials, more than 30 NDF were killed, while 10 Kurdish security personnel were slain. The officials said 17 civilians died from regime shelling.

According to the Asayish, both sides will release their prisoners. Compensation will be given to families of the slain civilians, and material help will be given to those who suffered.

The Assad regime will review the NDF and eventually dissolve it in Qamishli, the Kurds said.

The Asayish also said long-standing political disputes in the city — divided in its control between the Kurds and the NDF — will be addressed. They said young men will not be forcibly conscripted by the Syrian army. Civil servants will receive their salaries and will be free from threat or forced conscription, and the regime “will not interfere in the matters of people and society”.


LCC: 75 People Killed on Saturday Amid Russian-Regime Bombing

The opposition Local Coordination Committees have documented the deaths of 75 people across Syria on Saturday, amid Russian and regime bombing and shelling.

The LCC said 26 people died near Damascus, including at least 13 in shelling of Douma, northeast of the capital. Another 17 people were killed in Aleppo Province, with intense Russian-regime bombing of opposition areas for a second straight day, and 16 perished in Idlib Province.


Report: Ahrar al-Sham Commander and Fighters Killed by ISIS Bomb

A commander of the rebel faction Ahrar al-Sham and three fighters have reportedly been killed by an Islamic State bomb in northwest Syria.

Majed Hussein al-Sadeq was killed on Saturday in the town of Binnish, northeast of Idlib city, by the suicide bomber.