Aiming to prevent a new war in northern Syria, Russia and Turkey reached a deal on Thursday to resume a ceasefire in the Idlib Province. Turkey and Russia will jointly patrol a buffer zone along the M4 highway, and rebels are to evacuate from the area south of the highway.
Some specifics are to be worked out before the patrols begin on March 15, but any deal that ends with the highway remaining open would be a big win for Syria, and areas north of the highway in Idlib have long been considered low value.
Read more at https://news.antiwar.com/2020/03/05/turkey-russia-agree-on-security-corridor-in-syrias-idlib/
Idlib ceasefire: Putin & Erdogan reach deal on Syria de-escalation after marathon Moscow talks
5 Mar, 2020
The leaders of Russia and Turkey have agreed a ceasefire plan for Syria’s Idlib and security measures for the troops stationed there to prevent the escalation in the militant-infested province from spiraling into an all-out war.
The press statement followed hours-long talks in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
During the talks, Putin and Erdogan agreed a document detailing a ceasefire in Idlib, starting from midnight on March 6.
Read more at https://www.rt.com/news/482432-putin-erdogan-moscow-meeting-idlib/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Email
Stress test passed: Russia and Turkey continue to work in Syria
By Fyodor Lukyanov
5 Mar, 2020
Russian-Turkish relations have survived an important crash test after a harsh escalation of the situation in Idlib almost turned into a full-scale Turkish-Syrian war and threatened to derail the entire peace process in Syria.
In the end, this didn’t happen. The talks between presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Moscow that lasted almost six hours have brought the Russo-Turkish relationship back into working order. It seems that the Astana format – a unique mechanism for coordinating the positions of the countries with completely different agendas – has been preserved.
It became clear long ago that Idlib would become the deciding point for the Syrian war. A large number of militants, primarily of extreme radical kind, ended up concentrated there as a result of compromises in previous areas of escalation. In fact, Idlib, by general agreement, had become a sort of magazine for powder kegs that had been carefully evacuated from other parts of Syria as the government troops advanced.
Read more at https://www.rt.com/op-ed/482443-putin-erdogan-stress-test-idlib/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Email
