UN says ceasefire group on Syria to meet at Russia's request

The UN-backed ceasefire taskforce on Syria will meet today at Russia's request, the United Nations' special envoy for Syria said, after the United States struck a regime airbase overnight.
"An emergency meeting of the ISSG (International Syria Support Group) Ceasefire Taskforce will take place later today," the office of special envoy Staffan de Mistura said.
"The meeting, which will be chaired by the Special Envoy, was requested by the Russian Federation co-chair and agreed upon by the United States co-chair."
A spokeswoman for de Mistura said the meeting would start at 1500 GMT, and no statement, either written or oral, would be made afterwards.

The ISSG, set up in negotiations in Vienna in 2015, is a working group established to find a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis.
The US fired a barrage of 59 cruise missiles at Shayrat airbase in northern Syria overnight, responding to a suspected chemical attack on a rebel-held town on Tuesday widely blamed on the Damascus regime.