Russia said on Thursday it had serious grounds to suspect Turkey was preparing a military incursion in Syria as a Syrian army source said the city of Aleppo would soon be encircled by government forces that are advancing with Russian air support.
The United Nations on Wednesday suspended the first peace talks in two years, halting an effort that seemed doomed from the start as the war raged unabated on the ground and government forces severed a major rebel supply route into strategically-important Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the war began.
The refugee crisis created by the five-year-long war moved back into focus as donors convened in London on Thursday, with countries pledging billions of dollars in aid to help the victims of a conflict that has forced millions from their homes.