The Turkish and Russian militaries have completed their third round of joint patrols on the M4 highway near northwestern Syria’s Idlib province and observed that the cease-fire in the area seems to be holding, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Wednesday.
Akar noted that the patrols were taking place as per the cease-fire deal with Russia signed in Moscow on March 5.
“A general atmosphere of peace holds despite several violations of the cease-fire,” Akar told a live broadcast on TRT Haber, adding that they had ensured a de-escalation of violence in the area.
The defense minister continued by saying that the Turkish and Russian militaries would continue to hold joint patrols to ensure the de-escalation remains in place.
“Our essential hope is for the cease-fire to permanently hold,” Akar said.
Turkey and Russia, who back opposing sides in Syria's war, agreed on March 5 to halt military activity in the northwestern Idlib region after an escalation of violence displaced nearly a million people and brought the two sides close to confrontation. The deal addresses Turkey's main concerns, namely stopping a flow of refugees and preventing the deaths of more Turkish soldiers on the ground.
As part of the agreement, Turkish and Russian forces are to carry out joint patrols along the M4 highway linking Syria's east and west, as well as to establish a security corridor on either side of the road.
During earlier negotiations, Russia reportedly proposed a map that edged the borders of the Sochi deal borders north of the strategic M4 and M5 highways, thus putting 60% of Idlib under regime control. However, Turkey said it would make no concessions on its observation points. Along with many European officials and the U.N., Ankara is concerned about the civilian displacement in Idlib due to regime operations, which could trigger a new mass exodus to the Turkish border and Western countries.
Turkey launched Operation Spring Shield on Feb. 27 after at least 34 Turkish soldiers were killed in a Bashar Assad regime airstrike in Idlib province and after repeated violations of previous cease-fires.
The M4 motorway connects the port city of Latakia to the Iraqi border while the M5 forms the backbone of the country's highways, connecting economic hub Aleppo to the central cities of Hama and Homs, the capital Damascus and to the Jordanian border farther south. Opening major highways in the region to revive a shattered war economy has been a key goal of the Russian-led campaign.
Before the war, the M5 motorway served as an economic artery for Syria, mainly feeding the country’s industrial hub of Aleppo. Experts estimate the road carried business worth $25 million a day at the height of Syria’s trade boom before the war.
The highway was a passageway for the crossing of wheat and cotton from the Syrian east and north to the rest of the country. It was also a road used for the exchange of commodities with regional trade partners.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic and a ceasefire deal reached last March, the death toll of Syrian civilians has recorded the lowest figure in nine years with 175.
Turkish forces have set up four new observation points in Jisr al-Shughour area, topping the number to 56 as heavy reinforcements are still pouring to the last opposition stronghold in Syria.
The new outposts have been established in the villages of Frika and Bakseryah west of Jisr al-Shughour city.
In March, Turkish forces set up six observation points in al-Ghassaneyah, Bidama, al-Najiyeh, and al-Zainiya, al-Misherfah and Tel Khattab, an array of villages located in the Jisr al-Shughour region.
Turkey said on Sunday it would minimise its troop movements in operation zones in neighbouring Syria in response to the coronavirus outbreak as the Turkish death toll and infections in the country rose, Reuters reported.
Troops deployed in Syria will now enter and exit operation areas only with the permission of the head of the army, the ministry said. “Thus, the movement of staff and troops is minimized, unless it is mandatory,” it added.
Idlib province is home to 3.5 million civilians, according to the United Nations.
In its turn, the regime army has also sent new reinforcements from the First Division in southern Damascus to Jabal Shahshubo area near Idlib, activists said.
More than 100 Syrian military trucks carrying 400 troops, ammunition, tanks and canons headed the eastern countryside of Idlib.
The nine-year-old conflict has killed more than 390,000 people and displaced 7 millions.
(Daily Sabah, Zaman Al Wasl)
Zaman Al Wasl
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