Russia and Turkey Agree to Reduce Tensions in Syria’s Idlib
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Russia and Turkey have agreed to reduce tensions on the ground in Syria’s Idlib province while continuing military action there, the Russian foreign ministry said on Saturday following several days of talks in Ankara.
“Concrete steps to achieve lasting stability in the Idlib de-escalation zone were considered,” the ministry said. “Both sides confirmed their goal to reduce tensions ‘on the ground’ while continuing the fight against terrorists.”
The Russian and Turkish presidents held phone talks on Friday, focusing on the urgency of extra measures to normalize the situation in northwestern Syria. The Kremlin press office said that the sides agreed “to speed up corresponding consultations between agencies and to work out the possibility of a summit meeting in the near future.”
At least 33 Turkish soldiers have been killed in an airstrike carried out by Syrian government forces this week.
Thursday night’s attack in Idlib marks a serious escalation in the direct conflict between Turkish and Russia-backed Syrian forces.
Turkish ground and air strikes on Syrian government forces and their allies in northwest Syria’s Idlib have killed 48 pro-Damascus soldiers in the past 24 hours, the Syrian Observatory, a war monitor, reported on Saturday.
It said that Syrian government and Russian warplanes continued air strikes on Saturday on the strategic eastern Idlib city of Saraqeb, a focal point of intensified fighting in recent days between Turkish-backed rebels and Damascus.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held an emergency security meeting in Ankara, and discussions have been held by phone with NATO’s secretary general and the US national security adviser.
The airstrike came after a Russian delegation spent two days in Ankara for talks with Turkish officials on the situation in Idlib, where a Syrian government offensive has sent hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing towards the border.
U.N. chief Antonio Guterres on Friday described an increase in fighting in northwest Syria that killed dozens of Turkish troops as “one of the most alarming moments” of the nine-year-old war and – along with most U.N. Security Council members – called for a ceasefire.
The 15-member Security Council met on Friday after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed by Russian-backed Syrian government troops in the deadliest attack suffered by Turkey’s army in nearly 30 years.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, supported by Russian air power, have been fighting to retake the last large, rebel-held region in Syria after nine years of war. Turkey has sent thousands of troops and heavy military hardware into Idlib region in an unprecedented incursion to back the rebels.
