Turkey, the gateway to Syria for westerns Jihadists. Update to this previous story.
Via Chicago Tribune
The U.S. Embassy in Ankara says that Turkey and the United States have signed an agreement to train and arm Syrian rebels fighting the Islamic State group.
The two countries have been in talks about such a pact for several months. The deal was signed Thursday evening by U.S Ambassador John Bass and a senior Turkish foreign ministry official, said Embassy spokesman Joe Wierichs. He gave no further details.
The Turkish government has said the training could begin as early as next month.
Rebels in Syria have captured 32 soldiers and pro-government gunmen near the northern city of Aleppo, where fighting is raging as the two sides try to grab new territory ahead of a possible truce, activists said Thursday.
The fighting comes as U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura is trying to broker a truce for war-ravaged Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. On Tuesday he said Syrian President Bashar Assad has expressed willingness to suspend bombing of Aleppo for six weeks.[…]
State-run Syrian TV reported that troops are still advancing in the north, adding that Syrian opposition fighters are coming from Turkey to take part in the battles near Aleppo.
The Observatory said 90 troops and pro-government gunmen, in addition to 81 rebels, have been killed since the fighting began on Tuesday.
In Geneva, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein urged Syrian authorities Thursday to release all those held by government forces and pro-government groups. Some detainees have been held for years.