Turkey continues to shell Syrian Kurds

Beirut/Munich: The Turkish army shelled Kurdish militia in northern Syria for a second day on Sunday, while Russia made clear it would continue bombing Syrian rebel targets, raising doubts that a planned ceasefire would bring much relief.
Major powers agreed on Friday to a limited cessation of hostilities in Syria but the deal does not take effect until the end of this week and was not signed by any warring parties - the Damascus government and numerous rebel factions fighting it.
Russian bombing raids directed at rebel groups are meanwhile helping the Syrian army to achieve what could be its biggest victory of the war in the battle for Aleppo, the country's largest city and commercial hub before the conflict.
The situation has been complicated by the involvement of Kurdish-backed combatants in the area north of Aleppo near the Turkish border, which has drawn a swift military response from artillery in Turkey.
The Kurdish YPG militia, helped by Russian air raids, seized an ex-military air base at Menagh last week, angering Turkey, which sees the YPG as an extension of the PKK, a Kurdish group that waged a bloody insurgent campaign on Turkish soil over most of the past three decades.
Turkey began shelling while demanding that the YPG militia withdraw from areas it has captured from Syrian rebels in the northern Aleppo region in recent days, including the Menagh air base. The bombardment killed two YPG fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Syrian Kurdish PYD party rejected Turkish demands for withdrawal, while the Syrian government said Turkish shelling of northern Syria amounted to direct support for insurgent groups.
Other fronts were also active on Sunday.
Kurdish-backed forces were fighting with insurgent groups near Tel Rifaat in the northern Aleppo countryside, while further south, government forces renewed their shelling of rebel positions to the northwest of Aleppo city.
The Observatory also reported air strikes by jets believed to be Russian in areas east of Damascus, north of Homs, and in the southern province of Deraa.
Efforts to deliver humantitarian aid were being threatened by the latest escalation of violence.
"We must ask again, why wait a week for this urgently needed cessation of hostilities?" says Dalia Al Awqati, Mercy Corps Director of Programs for North Syria.
"Each delay places innocent civilians at greater risk and impedes our efforts to support the half a million people who depend on us for food and other essential supplies."
The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama had agreed to intensify cooperation to implement the agreement on Syria struck in Munich.
After a phone call between Putin and Obama, the Kremlin said both gave a "positive valuation" to the Munich meeting.
But the Kremlin statement made clear Russia would continue bombing raids against IS and "other terroristic organisations", an indication that it would also be targeting groups in western Syria where militants such as Al Qaeda are fighting President Bashar Al Assad in close proximity to rebels deemed moderate by the West.
Reaction from politicians in the West to the Munich deal was less positive.
A senior ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Russia had gained the upper hand in Syria and the surrounding region through armed force.
Norbert Roettgen, head of the foreign affairs committee in the German parliament, was sceptical about how Russia would behave in the days and weeks ahead, despite agreeing to a cessation of hostilities.
"Russia is determined to create facts on the ground, and when they have accomplished this, then they will invite the West to fight a common enemy, this is ISIS," Roettgen said, referring to IS.
Speaking at the same security conference in Munich, US Senator John McCain said he did not view the deal as a breakthrough.
"Let's be clear about what this agreement does. It allows Russia's assault on Aleppo to continue for another week," he said.
"Mr Putin is not interested in being our partner. He wants to shore up the Assad regime, he wants to establish Russia as a major power in the Middle East, he wants to use Syria as a live fire exercise for Russia's modernizing military," McCain said.
As the fighting continued, the Syrian army urged citizens in Deraa province, the Ghouta area east of Damascus, and in rural districts east of Aleppo to quickly seek out "reconciliation" with the government.
So-called local reconciliation agreements are often seen as a means for the government to force surrender on insurgents, and have typically followed lengthy blockades of rebel-held areas and the civilians living there.
Saudi Arabia confirmed it had sent aircraft to Turkey's Incirlik air base to join the fight against IS. But said any move to deploy Saudi special forces into Syria would depend on a decision by the US-led coalition combating the ultra-radical militants.
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday he expected Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to send special forces to Syria to help local opposition fighters in their drive to retake the city of Raqqa, IS's de facto capital in Syria.