Turkey hosts summit to seek solutions to end war in Syria
ISTANBUL (AP) — The leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany were holding talks about Syria at a summit on Saturday, hoping to lay the groundwork for eventual peace in a country devastated by years of war. A key challenge is their divided opinions about Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran and whose government has retaken most of the territory that rebels seized during the war that has killed over 400,000 people. Western countries condemn Assad for what they call indiscriminate attacks on civilians and Turkey has been helping insurgents trying to remove him from power. Still, the leaders meeting in Istanbul hope a cease-fire in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib can provide some momentum for peace efforts. The truce last month prevented a Syrian government offensive on the last rebel stronghold, which many feared would have set off another refugee crisis. Idlib has been relatively calm since then, although both sides have accused each o