TWO Syrian people-traffickers were sentenced to just four years in prison yesterday over the drowning of toddler Aylan Kurdi and four other refugees last year.

The court in the Aegean town of Bodrum convicted the pair of human-trafficking but cleared them of manslaughter.

The image of the Syrian boy’s body, face down on a Turkish beach, became a symbol of the Mediterranean refugee crisis.

Meanwhile, the Syrian “cessation of hostilities” continued to hold yesterday after almost a week, with peace reigning in most of the country.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met parliamentary opposition leader Qadri Jamil of the Popular Front for Change and Liberation to discuss resuming peace talks next week.

Mr Bogdanov later met US ambassador to Russia John Tefft to discuss the truce, which was negotiated between the two countries.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned against making talks dependent on the ceasefire holding.