Rockets Kill 4 Syrians in Turkey

Turkish officials say rocket projectiles fired from Syria have killed four Syrians — three of them children — in a Turkish border town.
The governor's office says four rocket projectiles that hit the town of Kilis also wounded a Turkish citizen and five other Syrians.
The state-run Anadolu Agency said earlier that one of the victims was a 40-year-old Syrian shepherd who died when one of the projectiles exploded near a middle school in Kilis.
The town's local population is outnumbered by the Syrian refugees living there.
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6 p.m.
The head of the main Syrian opposition coalition says it is "unacceptable" for the peace talks in Geneva to continue amid government violations of a cease-fire in place since late February.
In a series of comments posted on Twitter Monday, Riad Hijab, the head of the Higher Negotiations Committee, says the Syrian government and its allies have used the talks as a "pretext" for waging their military campaign. He says the government has also kept up its siege of civilian areas.
The U.S. and Russian-brokered cease-fire brought weeks of relative calm to much of Syria, but appears to be breaking down across the north, where insurgents have launched an offensive they say is in retaliation for government breaches.
Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of violating the truce.
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5:20 p.m.
The main Syrian opposition group has sent a sharply-reduced delegation to meet with a U.N. mediator in Geneva peace talks, amid renewed rebel fighting on the ground.
A Western diplomat familiar with the talks says the opposition High Negotiations Committee was considering whether to continue participating. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The HNC sent a three-person delegation to meet Monday with U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura, far smaller than the usual 10-15 person delegation that has met with him repeatedly in on-and-off talks since February that have made no tangible progress. No major HNC leaders were among the three.
The group postponed a planned news conference until Tuesday. A Syrian government delegation met with de Mistura earlier on Monday.
— Jamey Keaten in Geneva
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4:50 p.m.
Turkey's state-run news agency says a rocket fired from Syria has killed one person and wounded a second in a border town.
The Anadolu Agency says the rocket exploded near a middle school in the town of Kilis on Monday, wounding a Syrian shepherd and a 14-year-old boy.
Anadolu said the Syrian man died of his wounds in a hospital. The school has been evacuated.
Earlier, two other rockets fired from Syria hit an olive grove and a building used as a storage center for hospital oxygen units, but there were no casualties.
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4:00 p.m.
Turkey's state-run news agency says two rockets fired from Syria have struck an olive grove and a building used to store hospital oxygen units in southern Turkey. No casualties were reported.
Anadolu Agency says the rockets struck the border town of Kilis on Monday. Police increased security in the area surrounding the state hospital.
Kilis witnessed an almost daily salvo of rockets fired from Islamic State-controlled territory last week, which killed one person and wounded several others.
Turkey's military systematically retaliates for rockets or shells that land on Turkish territory in line with its rules of engagement.
The defense minister said last week that Turkish retaliatory strikes against the rockets and shells fired into Turkey have killed 362 militants and wounded 123 others so far this year
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3:30 p.m.
A Syrian government envoy to Geneva peace talks says unspecified new "ideas" were floated in his latest meeting with a U.N. mediator, while using most of his public comments to decry Israel's cabinet meeting in the Golan Heights.
Syria's U.N. ambassador Bashar Ja'afari also criticized statements from rebel fighters that he claimed had called for a "revocation of the cessation of hostilities." Rebel groups announced that they had attacked Latakia province, a Syrian government stronghold, in retaliation for violations of a fragile cease-fire that began in late February.
Speaking to reporters but taking no questions, Ja'afari criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to host a Cabinet meeting in the Golan on Sunday. Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in 1981. Netanyahu said on Sunday that the international community should recognize that "the Golan will forever remain under Israeli sovereignty."
Ja'afari said he would next meet U.N envoy Staffan de Mistura on Wednesday. De Mistura was meeting with the opposition later Monday.
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3:15 p.m.
Russia has called for direct talks between the Syrian government and the opposition.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Moscow on Monday that direct talks between the government and a broad opposition delegation should be launched as part of the Geneva talks.
He also denied allegations that Moscow and Washington were negotiating the departure of Syrian President Bashar Assad behind closed doors.
The talks in Geneva, which resumed last week, have until now been indirect, with a U.N. envoy shuffling between the two delegations.
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2:30 p.m.
Syrian activists and rebels say opposition fighters have launched a new offensive against government forces in a number of areas in the country's northwest.
Rebels groups said in a statement Monday that the attacks in rural parts of the Latakia province, a government stronghold, are in retaliation for violations of a fragile cease-fire that began in late February.
Other fighters attacked government positions in the rural part of the adjacent Hama province.
The U.S. and Russian-brokered cease-fire had reduced violence across Syria despite alleged violations on both sides. The opposition says the government has breached the agreement more than 2,000 times.
The cease-fire was intended to facilitate talks in Geneva, which resumed last week. A Syrian opposition member in Geneva, Mohammed al-Abboud, says they have the right to defend themselves.