Russia-Turkey Idlib Deal Leaves Damascus Free To Respond To Provocations - Syrian Lawmaker

The Russian-Turkish agreement on a ceasefire in Syria's Idlib is important for Damascus, since it leaves the territories that have been retaken from terrorists in the hands of the Syrian government and gives it the right to respond to any future provocations, Ashwak Abbas, member of the Syrian parliament and of the small body of the Syrian Constitutional Committee from the government side, told Sputnik

GENOA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2020) The Russian-Turkish agreement on a ceasefire in Syria's Idlib is important for Damascus, since it leaves the territories that have been retaken from terrorists in the hands of the Syrian government and gives it the right to respond to any future provocations, Ashwak Abbas, member of the Syrian parliament and of the small body of the Syrian Constitutional Committee from the government side, told Sputnik.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed on a ceasefire in Idlib, which started at midnight. The sides also agreed to create a security corridor six kilometers (3.7 miles) north and south of the M4 highway in Syria, which connects the provinces of Latakia and Aleppo.

"It was important that Russia's position was decisive yesterday, especially with regard to the agreement that was reached that the territories which had been liberated by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) remained in the hands of the SAA. Moreover, Turkey committed to all the agreements that took place earlier, guaranteeing international flight corridors and leaving secure areas for that, and this is a very important point. The SAA has the full right to respond to any new provocation from the armed groups in order not to allow armed groups to turn Idlib into a staging ground for attacks on the SAA or even on Russian forces in Syria," Abbas said.

She added that Erdogan is using Turkish influence on the armed groups in Syria as a "playing card" in his political maneuvers with Russia or the Syrian government.

"Recently, the number of attacks on the routes leading to, for example, the Hmeimim base, has increased because of Turkey's lack of commitment to the observation posts," Abbas said.

Earlier this week, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that after 18 months since the Sochi agreements with Turkey on Syria were reached, shelling of peaceful settlements and the Hmeimim air base by terrorists had become daily. He noted that Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham and Horas al-Din (all banned in Russia) terrorists had crowded out all militants of the "moderate opposition" in the north of Syria and that the fortified areas of terrorists had merged with the Turkish observation posts deployed under the Sochi agreement. The general called Ankara's obligations to separate and oust terrorists from the external borders of the de-escalation zone to a depth of 15-20 kilometers and to withdraw heavy artillery weapons there as the key agreement of the deal.

In September 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks in Sochi devoted specifically to the Idlib de-escalation zone. They agreed to create a demilitarized buffer zone in the province, which meant that all heavy weaponry operated by rebel groups was to be pulled back, and radical militants including members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group, previously known as the Nusra Front (banned in Russia) were to leave the zone.

The agreement reached by Putin and Erdogan on Thursday was signed as an Additional Protocol to the Sochi agreement of September 2018.