BALADI NEWS
Russia has assured Turkey that it will not allow the Bashar al-Assad regime to attack Turkish observation posts in northern Syria, said Turkish foreign minister on Friday.
Mevlut Cavusoglu was speaking at a round table meeting at Norwegian Institute of International Affairs as part of his official visit to Norway.
Underlining that the regime forces have “harassed” and did not directly target Turkish observation posts around Idlib, Cavusoglu said: “We have discussed this issue with Russian interlocutors in Moscow three days ago. We have no plans to withdraw our troops from these points.”
Continuing its violations of last year's cease-fire agreement, the Assad regime on Aug. 22 attacked a Turkish military observation post in northwestern Syria with harassment fire, officials told Anadolu Agency.
Cavusoglu warned that if the regime continues its attacks in Idlib, world may witness a worse humanitarian disaster than that in Aleppo.
“The international community is still quiet. We need to see the support of the international community. They must raise their voices, otherwise this will have direct consequences for Europe's security,” the Turkish foreign minister said.
Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.
Under the deal, opposition groups in Idlib would remain in areas where they were already present, while Russia and Turkey would carry out joint patrols in the area to prevent a resumption of fighting.
The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone.
The de-escalation zone is currently home to some 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands recently displaced by regime forces throughout the war-weary country.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.
Source: Anadolu Agency.