BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th February, 2020) EU High Representative on Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell stated during a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday the need to ensure access to humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees amid the conflict escalation in Idlib.
"Idlib - spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on the situation and reiterated call for de-escalation. Underlined the urgent need for humanitarian access and to alleviate situation of refugees," Borrell wrote on Twitter.
The conversation between the two sides took place at the initiative of the European Union.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov and Borrell focused their discussion on the conflict settlement in Syria and Libya as well as on some aspects of Russia-EU relations.
Earlier in February, the top Russian diplomat said that Turkey had failed to comply with commitments outlined in a Russian-Turkish memorandum signed in 2018, and is not distinguishing between Syria's armed opposition, which is open for dialogue, and terrorist groups in the region.
Thus, the situation in Idlib escalated on Thursday after terrorists of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, banned in Russia) launched a large-scale attack on the positions of the Syrian government forces. The Syrian army opened return fire. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Turkish military, who should not have been there, also came under fire. As a result, 33 soldiers of the Turkish army were killed, and more than 30 were injured.
