Russia-Turkey ceasefire goes into effect in Syria’s Idlib

March 6, 2020

Damascus: A ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey went into force on Friday midnight in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, following days of fighting.

On Thursday, the two countries agreed on the ceasefire in the de-escalation zone in Syria’s Idlib, after talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan which lasted for about six hours, reports Xinhua news agency.

The ceasefire came into effect from 12.01 on Friday, according to the protocol read after the talks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The agreement comes after direct confrontation between Turkey and Syrian forces took place several times in Idlib over the past two months since the Syrian forces launched a campaign against the Ankara-backed rebel groups in Idlib.

The Syrian army started the operation in Idlib after Turkey failed to live up to previous pledges made during the Sochi agreement in 2018 between Russia and Turkey.

Under the previous deal, the rebels should have withdrawn from certain areas around the M5 and M4 highways in northern Syria.

Turkey was also supposed to disarm ultra-radical rebel groups in certain areas in Idlib, which didn’t happen.

The current ceasefire was seen as a chance to quell the recent confrontation in Idlib, mainly to allow humanitarian help for Syrian refugees who left their areas during the recent military showdown.

However, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said minutes before the ceasefire that shelling was still being carried out by the Syrian forces on rebel areas and by Turkish forces on the Syrian government forces in Idlib.