Cautious calm in Syria’s Idlib as ceasefire goes into effect

A ceasefire agreed by Russia and Turkey has gone into effect in Syria’s north-western Idlib region, activists and a monitoring group confirmed in the early hours of Friday.

The halt in fighting was agreed amid growing concerns about an emerging proxy war between Turkey, which supports certain rebel groups in Syria’s multi-sided civil war, and Russia, the main military backer of the Syrian state.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said shortly after midnight that cautious calm was prevailing on major fronts in Idlib.

An activist who lives in Idlib city also told dpa the situation was calm on all fronts around the city. 

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Shortly before midnight, airstrikes by Russian warplanes and shelling by government forces was targeting the countryside of Idlib and areas in the western countryside of Hama, according to activists and the Observatory.

A Turkish drone also struck Syrian government forces posts in the countryside of Idlib, the Observatory added.

Syrian government shelling before Midnight on al Naireb, west of the city of Saraqeb killed two Turkish soldiers, the Observatory said, but there was no immediate confirmation of the deaths from the Turkish side.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on Thursday to a ceasefire for Syria’s north-western Idlib region, to take effect at midnight.

The sides have also agreed to observe a security corridor through a major highway in Idlib, Syria’s last rebel stronghold, near the Turkish border. The agreement was announced after about six hours of talks between the Russian and Turkish leaders in Moscow.

“We will first impose a ceasefire as soon as possible, then will swiftly take other steps that we agree on,” Erdogan told reporters. He cautioned that Turkey would retaliate to any attack by Syrian state forces.

Turkey has suffered dozens of casualties after sending troops into the north-western Idlib region in recent weeks, to counter advances made by Syrian state forces into rebel-held areas.

According to Putin, however, the Syrian military did not know it was fighting Turkish troops, because their location had not been shared.

“No one, including Syrian forces, knew about their location,” Putin told Erdogan at the meeting during their public opening remarks. The Syrian military also suffered “serious losses,” the Russian president noted.

However, shortly after an attack last week in which more than 30 Turkish soldiers were killed, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar had charged that the onslaught continued despite the troops’ location having been shared with Russia. Ambulances were also hit, he said.

A previous ceasefire deal for Idlib quickly fell apart. Turkey and Russia have been accusing each other of failing to adhere to that agreement.

“The [Syrian] regime, which threatens the stability of the region with its aggression, is the primary responsible for breaking the Idlib agreement,” Erdogan, standing alongside Putin, told a press conference.

Erdogan accused the Syrian military of having directly targeted civilians. He said an estimated 1.5 million people from the Idlib region had moved towards Turkey’s borders.

Turkey has deployed troops to Idlib to “maintain stability as part of a deal with Russia,” Erdogan said.

Thursday’s agreement called for a cessation of “all military actions along the line of contact in the Idlib de-escalation area” and a security corridor to be established six kilometres deep to the north and south of the M4 highway.

Turkey and Russia were also to conduct joint patrols along the M4 highway from the settlement of Trumba to the settlement of Ain-al-Havr, the agreement said.

Erdogan was accompanied in Moscow by a large delegation, including his defence, finance and foreign ministers.

During the meeting, Erdogan referred to the strong economic relationship between Turkey and Russia, while Putin expressed a hope that the situation in Syria would not damage their relations.

Previously robust ties between Turkey and Russia were frayed five years ago when Turkish forces shot down a Russian warplane on the Syrian border. Relations began to recover about half a year later. (dpa)