EU Council Calls On Parties To Syrian Conflict To Immediately Cease Hostilities In Idlib

EU Council Calls on Parties to Syrian Conflict to Immediately Cease Hostilities in Idlib

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2020) The European Council called on Friday on parties to the Syrian conflict to immediately cease hostilities in the province of Idlib as well as respect their obligations under the international humanitarian law.

On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that pro-Turkish militants, supported by Turkish artillery, had breached the defenses of the Syrian army near the villages of Qmenas and Nerab in Idlib. Russia's Su-24 jet opened fire at the militants, helping the Syrian troops to repel the advancing fighters, the Russian military added. The Turkish Defense Ministry later reported that two Turkish soldiers had been killed and five injured in an air attack in Idlib, adding that over 50 Syrians had been killed as a result of the retaliatory fire.

"The EU calls on all actors to cease hostilities immediately. The EU urges all parties to the conflict to fully respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law and to allow unimpeded and direct humanitarian access to all those in need," the council said in a statement.

Brussels also renewed its call on all the parties to ensure a sustainable ceasefire and fully implement the Sochi Memorandum of 17 September 2018, as well as reaffirmed its commitment to the UN Security Council Resolution 2254 and the Geneva Communique.

"Accountability for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law is of utmost importance. For this reason the EU reiterates its call for the situation in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court," the European Council added.

In May 2017, Turkey, Russia and Iran, as the guarantors of the Syrian ceasefire, agreed during talks in Nur-Sultan (formerly, Astana) to create four de-escalation zones in Syria. Damascus gained control over three of them in 2018, but the fourth, located in Idlib and parts of several neighboring provinces, is mostly controlled by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist organization (formerly known as Nusra Front, banned in Russia). In September 2018, Russia and Turkey agreed to create a demilitarized buffer zone in the province, where more than 10 different militant groups are operating along with Tahrir al-Sham.

Earlier in February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Turkey had not fulfilled several key commitments on Idlib, including its failure to distinguish between the armed opposition, which is ready for dialogue with the government within the framework of the political process, from terrorists. In turn, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay has claimed that Ankara had fulfilled its obligations in Idlib.