German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that only Russia can provide security guarantees for humanitarian aid to civilians in the Syrian province of Idlib.
On Thursday, Russian and Turkish leaders held talks in Moscow in connection with the aggravation of the situation in the Syrian province of Idlib. The meeting resulted in the adoption of a joint document. The sides confirmed their commitment to the “Astana format” and announced the introduction of a ceasefire from midnight on Friday. The sides agreed to jointly patrol the important M4 highway, which is now under the control of militants.
“We want these security guarantees, and these security guarantees, frankly, can only be provided by Russians, taking advantage of their influence on… (Syrian President Bashar) Assad”, – Maas said in an interview with Deutschlandrundfunk.
Maas expressed the hope that the agreements between Russia and Turkey on Idlib will create conditions for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region. According to him, the UN will negotiate with Turkey and Russia on this issue. For its part, Germany expressed willingness to allocate 100 million euros to the UN for humanitarian aid to Syrians.
The situation in Idlib worsened after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorists launched a large-scale attack on the Syrian government troops on 27 February. The Syrian army returned fire. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the shelling included Turkish soldiers who should not have been there.
As a result, 36 Turkish military men were killed and more than 30 wounded. Immediately after receiving information about the Turkish military casualties, the Russian side took measures to ensure a complete ceasefire by Syrian troops, and safe evacuation of the dead and wounded to Turkish territory was ensured. The Russian Defense Ministry stressed that Russian aviation was not used in the area.
Earlier Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Turkey was unable to fulfill several key obligations to solve the problems around Syrian Idlib. In particular, it did not distinguish the armed opposition, which is ready for a dialogue with the government as part of the political process, from terrorists. For his part, the Vice-President of Turkey, Fouat Oktay, made a statement that the country has fulfilled its commitments to Idlib.
In accordance with the agreement reached at the May 2017 talks in Astana (now Nur-Sultan) by representatives of Russia, Iran and Turkey, four de-escalation zones were created in Syria. The territory of three of these zones was taken over by Damascus in 2018. The fourth zone, located in the province of Idlib and parts of the neighbouring provinces of Latakia, Hama and Aleppo, remains outside the government’s control. However, most of it was captured by terrorists from the Jabhat al-Nusra group. In September 2018, Russia and Turkey agreed in Sochi to create a demilitarized zone in Idlib, where more than a dozen different formations are located.