Turkey is responsible for working with militants in the Idlib de-escalation zone to prevent further provocations, Russian Special Presidential Representative on Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said Tuesday
NUR-SULTAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th December, 2019) Turkey is responsible for working with militants in the Idlib de-escalation zone to prevent further provocations, Russian Special Presidential Representative on Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said Tuesday.
Lavrentyev is currently in the Kazakh capital of Astana for the 14th round of talks on the Syrian crisis settlement.
"The Idlib de-escalation zone in the form that it exists now is the responsibility of our Turkish partners. This is why it is it does not make sense to undertake a wide-reaching operation there, but we should influence our Turkish partners to take the necessary steps in relation to armed groups [in the zone] that are engaging in acts of provocation," Lavrentyev said.
He added that on Monday, armed groups had shelled residential areas in Aleppo, which he said was "absolutely unacceptable."
Following the 6th round of Astana talks in 2017, the sides announced the creation of four de-escalation zones in Syria, including one zone in Idlib province, the north of the central Homs province, Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, as well as southern Daraa region. The agreement stipulated that the monitoring in the de-escalation zone in Idlib is carried out by Iranian, Russian and Turkish forces, while the remaining zones will be maintained by Russian military police.
