UN ENVOY to Syria Staffan de Mistura further postponed peace talks in Geneva yesterday as Turkey continued to shell the country’s Kurdish north.

The 17-state International Syria Support Group met yesterday to hammer out the “cessation of hostilities” announced in Munich on February 11 but Mr de Mistura said peace talks proper could not begin.

The UN envoy originally suspended preliminary talks on February 3, with preconditions by the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee (HNC) blocking progress.

He had planned to resume on February 25, but told Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet that he could not “realistically” bring the warring parties to the table by then.

The HNC threw a tantrum after the Syrian army and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) cut the Azaz supply corridor in the north of Aleppo province from Turkey.

But Syrian presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told Russia Today TV on Thursday night that talks could proceed without a ceasefire.

She said that, unlike Turkey, Damascus sees the YPG as fellow Syrians fighting against the terrorism of Islamic State (Isis) and others.

The Kurds have made major gains against Isis in eastern Hassakeh province in recent days, and were yesterday poised to capture its last stronghold of al-Shadadi, north-east of Deir Ezzor, the besieged city of 200,000 inhabitants.

Azaz is key to the flow of recruits, arms and money to the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front and its ally in the HNC Ahrar as-Sham.

Ankara responded by bombarding YPG-held villages and the Menagh airbase around Azaz and calling for a six-mile-deep “safe zone” for the terrorists along the border.

And Kurdish news agency Anha reported that “dozens” of Turkish military vehicles had crossed the border and started building a trench about 200 metres inside Syrian territory.

Syrian news agency Sana said yesterday shells fell around Azaz and in Ein Daqneh.

Moscow called a UN security council meeting late yesterday in a bid to censure Turkish moves towards a ground offensive.

• Turkey-based militant group Kurdistan Freedom Falcons claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s car bomb attack in Ankara that killed 28 people.