On Tuesday 30 October, the US special representative for the Syrian conflict, James Jeffrey, hailed "the great steps forward" that were made at the Istanbul summit on 27 October, which brought together the German chancellor and French, Russian and Turkish presidents (see EUROPE 12127).
"We are very happy with the results", he told a small group of journalists including from EUROPE. In Jeffrey's view, the summit conclusions urging the preservation of the ceasefire, progress towards a...