Turkish defense minister receives US representatives

By Hamdi Celikbas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar received a high-ranking U.S. official and the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

In a statement, the ministry said a meeting was held late Monday between delegations under the co-chairmanship of Turkey’s Deputy Minister of National Defense Yunus Emre Karaosmanoglu and U.S. Special Representative for Syria James Jeffrey.

Bilateral and regional defense and security issues were discussed, especially the crisis in Idlib, Syria.

The ministry said that after the meeting, Jeffrey and U.S. ambassador to Turkey David Satterfield were received by Akar.

Idlib is home to four million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces throughout the war-torn country.

In recent months, nearly 1.7 million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to intense attacks by forces of the Bashar al-Assad regime and its allies.

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

But since then, more than 1,800 civilians have been killed in airstrikes and shelling by the regime and its allies.

On Sunday, Turkey announced a new offensive, Operation Spring Shield, in northwestern Syria to protect civilians from regime attacks.

It came after at least 34 Turkish soldiers were martyred and dozens injured in an Assad regime airstrike on Feb. 27 in the de-escalation zone just across Turkey’s southern border.

Turkish soldiers are working to protect local civilians under the September 2018 deal with Russia.

*Writing by Fahri Aksut