Turkish president to discuss Idlib with Russia's Putin

By Davut Demircan and Burak Dag

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's president announced he would discuss recent developments in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib with his Russian counterpart in a phone call on Friday evening.

Speaking to journalists after the weekly Friday prayer in Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the call with Russia's Vladimir Putin would take place at 06.00 p.m. local time [1500GMT], adding that Turkey's attitude would be determined after the conversation.

"Merkel and Macron suggested holding quartet summit on March 5 in Istanbul to discuss Idlib," said Erdogan, adding that Putin had yet to accept the proposal.

He said that Turkish and moderate opposition groups had destroyed 12 tanks, three armored vehicles, 14 howitzers and two pickup trucks in Idlib, where fighting continues with forces loyal to the Bashar al-Assad regime, and its Russian and Iranian allies.

He added that some 150 regime forces had been neutralized.

In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The Syrian regime, however, violated the cease-fire several times martyring 14 Turkish soldiers in three attacks in February. The last attack was on Thursday, and two Turkish troops were martyred and five injured.

The regime's advances have sent hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing towards the border with Turkey, which already hosts over 3.7 million refugees.