A trilateral meeting of representatives of the Russian Federation, Syria and Turkey on the situation in the SAR was held in Moscow, the Syrian side demanded compliance with the Sochi de-escalation agreements, the Syrian state channel Ikhbariya reports.
“At the tripartite Syrian-Russian-Turkish meeting in Moscow, the Syrian side demanded absolute respect for the sovereignty and independence of Syria and its territorial integrity and the immediate withdrawal (of troops – ed.) from its territory”, – the television channel reports.
According to the channel, the Syrian side “stressed the need for Ankara to comply with the Sochi agreement”, which provides for the liberation of Idlib province from terrorists and weapons and the unblocking of the Aleppo-Latakia and Aleppo-Hama routes.
“Syria stressed that it intends to free all Idlib, which guarantees the security of all Syrians, whom the terrorists use as human shields”, – the channel reports.
The level of country representation at the meeting is not specified.
Another ceasefire took effect in the Syrian province of Idlib at midnight on January 12th. As the Center for the Reconciliation of the warring parties previously reported, from 13.00 Moscow time three checkpoints began to operate for civilians to leave the militant-controlled areas of the Idlib de-escalation zone.
In connection with the ceasefire, the Syrian army prepared three humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilians: in the area of Hubeit in the south of Idlib, Abu Duhur in the east and al-Hader in the south of Aleppo province.
Four de-escalation zones were created in Syria in accordance with the agreement reached in May 2017 at the talks in Astana (now Nur-Sultan) by representatives of Russia, Iran and Turkey. The territory of three of them in 2018 came under the control of Damascus. The fourth zone, located in the province of Idlib and parts of the neighboring provinces of Latakia, Hama and Aleppo, is still not subject to the government of the republic, with most of it seized by terrorists from the Jebhat al-Nusra group*.
*-Banned in Russia