Turkish defence minister calls for halt to Syrian, Russian bombing of Idlib

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar on Saturday called for a halt to a Syrian regime offensive against opposition-held Idlib and northern Hama provinces.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been displaced and dozens killed as a result of the regime assault on Idlib province which began on 30 April.

Akar said that regime forces should return to lines set by the Sochi agreement in September 2018, which established a demilitarised zone around rebel-held Idlib and northern Hama provinces and affirmed the area was a “de-escalation zone” covered by a ceasefire.

The New Arab’s correspondent in Syria reported that fierce fighting took place on Saturday in the village of Karkar on the border of Idlib and Hama provinces between opposition fighters and regime forces, just five kilometres away from a Turkish observation post tasked with monitoring the ceasefire.

TNA reported the situation was relatively calm following Akar’s statement on Sunday.

The Syrian News Agency SMART meanwhile saidTurkish vehicles carried out their first patrol of northern Hama province since the regime offensive began on Sunday morning.

“Humanitarian problems grow each day and it is increasingly showing a tendency to turn into a catastrophe. We expect Russia to take effective and determined measures to make regime forces stop their attacks on the south of Idlib and immediately return to the borders set by the Astana agreement”, the Turkish news agency Anadolu quoted Akar as saying.

Russian aircraft have been carrying out strikes on Idlib province in recent days simultaneously with Syrian regime warplanes, killing dozens of civilians.

On Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin claimed the strikes targeted “terrorists” and were carried out “in coordination with our Turkish partners”. Since January 2019, most of Idlib province has been under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which was formerly affiliated to Al-Qaeda.

On Saturday, 11 of the 15 members of the UN Security Council deplored the loss of innocent civilian lives and called for a ceasefire.

The aim of the regime offensive is thought to be the capture of highways in and around Idlib province. Two strategic towns fell to the regime last week.

Since 2011, over half a million people have been killed and millions more displaced in the Syrian conflict, which began with the Assad regime’s brutal suppression of peaceful protests.

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