In four days of the offensive, government forces drove terrorists out of more than 40 villages.
The Syrian army launched a military operation in Idlib. The reason for its start was attempts of militants to break through the positions of government forces in the region.
According to Al Jazeera, at least 18,000 people left Idlib a day after active hostilities began. They headed towards the Turkish border. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that his country could not cope with the new wave of refugees from Syria.
“More than 80,000 of our brothers began fleeing from Idlib to the border with our country. In this situation, Turkey alone will not be able to cope with this wave of refugees”, – the Turkish leader said.
Against the background of escalation of the conflict, a Turkish delegation visited Moscow December 23. According to Turkish President’s official representative Ibrahim Kalyn, the Russian side promised to make every effort to stop attacks by Syrian troops. Kalyn stressed that Turkey “expects an immediate end to the attacks on Idlib through a new ceasefire regime.