Syrian town as Turkey, Russia to hold talks

Erdogan says hopes to reach ceasefire deal in meeting with Russian counterpart Thursday

Regime forces re-entered the northwestern Syrian town of Saraqeb on Monday after losing it days earlier to rebels, a monitor and state media said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said regime forces had wrested back full control.

“Regime forces with Russian air cover were able to retake complete control of the town of Saraqeb on the Damascus-Aleppo highway,” it said.

In Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he hoped to reach a deal on a ceasefire in Syria when he meets his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday.

“I hope that he [Putin] will take the necessary measures there, such as a ceasefire, and that we will find a solution to this affair,” Erdogan said in a televised speech to members of his party in Ankara.

He also vowed to keep the doors open for migrants heading towards Europe, as he mounted pressure on Western countries to give Turkey more assistance with the Syrian conflict and its humanitarian consequences.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that cooperation with Turkey is a top priority, confirming a meeting between the Russian and Turkish presidents later this week.

Russia attaches “great importance to cooperation with our Turkish partners,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said ahead of the talks in Moscow between Putin his Turkish counterpart.