Cyprus minister says a proposal to set up safe zones in Syria for refugees to return is advancing

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ interior minister says a proposal to enable repatriations of Syrian refugees by designating specific areas within the country as safe zones is “gaining ground” among the island nation’s fellow European Union member states. Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said after talks with European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas on Friday that it’s the “conviction of several states that the time has come to collectively dare” to discuss the possibility of designating safe zones 13 years after the start of the Syrian conflict. The Cypriot government is urging both Europol and the EU’s border protection agency FRONTEX to bolster patrols along the bloc’s southeastern maritime borders to head off migrant arrivals.