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Executive Summary for February 13th

We review key developments in Syria, including Hezbollah urging the Lebanese government to coordinate with Syria to return refugees, Turkey saying its goal in Syria is to take Raqqa and the Syrian government declaring it is ready to exchange prisoners with rebels.

Published on Feb. 13, 2017 Read time Approx. 2 minutes

Hezbollah Says Lebanese Government Should Coordinate Refugee Returns With Syria

The leader of the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah movement said on Sunday that the Lebanese and Syrian governments should coordinate the return of refugees to Syria, Agence France-Presse reported.

“Military victories in Syria, the most recent of them the victory in Aleppo … have turned large areas into safe and quiet spaces,” Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address.

Nasrallah called for “cooperation to return the majority of these refugees to their towns and villages and homes, so they will no longer be refugees sitting in tents or in the streets,” adding that the process should be “one of persuasion, not of coercion.”

More than 1 million Syrian refugees are registered in neighboring Lebanon. Earlier this month, Lebanese president Michel Aoun called on the international community to safely return refugees to Syria.

Turkey’s End Goal in Syria Is Raqqa, Erdogan Says

Turkey’s ultimate goal in Syria is to expel the so-called Islamic State from its capital in northeastern Syria, Raqqa, President Erdogan said on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Syrian rebels backed by Turkey are waging an operation against the extremists in al-Bab, located 20 miles (30km) south of the Turkish border. Syrian government forces are closing in on al-Bab from the south.

“The ultimate goal is to cleanse a 5,000-square-km [1,900 square-mile] area,” Erdogan said, adding that Ankara has no interest in keeping its soldiers in Syria once the area has been cleared of both ISIS and Kurdish fighters.

Syrian Government Says It Is Ready to Exchange Prisoners With Rebels

The Syrian government is ready to exchange prisoners with rebels, state TV said on Monday, Reuters reported.

The government is “always ready” to exchange prisoners for people “kidnapped by terrorist groups,” Syrian state media said, “particularly in the framework of efforts being made for the coming meeting in Astana.”

Rebel groups have not responded yet. The release of prisoners has long been a demand from rebels to go ahead with any peace talks with the government. More than 100 people were exchanged in a prisoner swap earlier this month in Hama.

Government and rebel delegations were invited by the Kazakh foreign ministry on Saturday to attend meetings in Astana later this week. U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Geneva are scheduled for February 20.

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