Turkey, Russia agree on cease-fire in Idlib, Syria

By Jeyhun Aliyev and Sena Guler

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey and Russia on Thursday agreed on a cease-fire in Syria’s Idlib de-escalation zone.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov announced in Moscow the additional protocol to the memorandum on stabilization of the situation in Idlib.

The protocol urged to “cease all military actions along the line of contact in the Idlib de-escalation area starting from 00:01 of March 6, 2020.”

A security corridor will be established 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) deep to the north and to the south from the M4 highway, according to the protocol.

“The specific parameters of the functioning of the security corridor will be agreed between the defense ministries of Turkey and Russia within seven days,” it noted.

Joint Turkish-Russian patrols will begin on March 15 along the M4 highway from the settlement of Trumba -- 2 km (1.2 mi) to the west of Saraqib -- to the settlement of Ain-Al-Havr, the protocol also said.