Turkey, Russia hold 4th joint patrol in NW Syria

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish and Russian troops conducted fourth joint ground patrol in northwestern Syria in line with the Moscow agreement, Turkey’s National Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

“Fourth joint Turkish-Russian land patrol was conducted today [Wednesday] by air and ground vehicles on M4 motorway in Syria’s Idlib province, as part of the earlier TR-RF agreement,” the ministry said on Twitter.

The M4 highway, also known as the Aleppo-Al Hasakah road, is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Turkey's southern border.

Turkey and Russia agreed on a protocol which urged parties to "cease all military actions along the line of contact in the Idlib de-escalation area starting from 00.01 [2101GMT] of March 6, 2020."

The protocol also noted that joint Turkish-Russian patrols would begin on March 15 along the M4 highway from the settlement of Trumba -- 2 km (1.2 miles) to the west of Saraqib -- to the settlement of Ain al-Havr.