February 19
17:28
2016
US and Russian officials met Friday to discuss an elusive ceasefire in Syria, as fighting on the ground continued with Kurdish-led forces seizing a key town from the Islamic State group. The truce under discussion was meant to begin Friday, but has failed to materialise so far, with the UN's Syria envoy also acknowledging that a proposed February 25 date to restart stalled peace talks was no longer "realistically" possible. Meanwhile, tensions between regime backer Moscow and opposition supporter Ankara escalated, with Russia convening a UN Security Council meeting for later Friday to discuss the possibility of a Turkish ground intervention in Syria.
