Turkey, Russia hold 10th joint patrol in Idlib

Turkish and Russian troops have carried out the 10th joint patrol along a key highway in northern Idlib province, Turkey's Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

“Within the framework of TUR-RF Agreement/Protocol, the 10th TUR-RF Combined Land Patrol on M-4 Highway in Idlib was conducted with the participation of land and air elements,” the ministry said on Twitter.

The M4 highway, also known as the Aleppo-Hasakah road, is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Turkey's southern border.

The ninth joint patrol was conducted on Thursday.

This March, Ankara and Moscow agreed on a protocol urging parties to “cease all military actions along the line of contact in the Idlib de-escalation area.”

The protocol said joint Turkish-Russian patrols would begin on March 15 along the M4 highway from the settlement of Trumba -- 2 km (1.2 miles) to the west of Saraqib -- to the settlement of Ain al-Havr.

Idlib has long been under siege by Assad regime forces and its allies, and previous cease-fires for the region were plagued by violations.

Since April 2018, attacks on the last opposition stronghold have dramatically intensified and caused new waves of refugees to move toward the Turkish border, putting the country, which already hosts 3.7 million Syrians, into a difficult position.

As a result, Turkey, which has the second-largest army in the transatlantic NATO alliance, has funneled troops and equipment into the region to stop the Syrian regime's advance and to avoid a fresh wave of refugees.

Currently, Turkish soldiers are stationed in the region to protect the local population and oppose terrorism groups.

According to a new report by Amnesty International, the Syrian and Russian forces have “deliberately targeted” civilians in northwest Syria.

The human rights organisation has described how schools and medical facilities have been under attack in Idlib, western Aleppo and parts of Hama.

The Amnesty report has detailed 18 instances – mainly in the first two months of this year – where these buildings have been targeted by Syrian government or Russian forces.

The document, called ‘Nowhere is safe for us’: Unlawful attacks and mass displacement in northwest Syria, contains information from flight spotters and intercepted flight communications.

“These recordings from the cockpits of warplanes provide strong evidence of the Russian military’s involvement in at least one unlawful attack that put a hospital out of service,” Amnesty said.

The human rights group said they have documented attacks which have forced five hospitals to shut down in areas under armed opposition group control.

According to the Idlib Health Directorate, Syrian or Russian attacks damaged or destroyed 10 medical facilities in Idlib and Aleppo between last December and this February, leading to the deaths of nine medical and other staff.

Amnesty said: “The incidents documented in the report – based on dozens of interviews and corroborated by numerous witness accounts, videos and photographs, and expert analysis of satellite imagery – show how Syrian and Russian forces have deliberately targeted civilians and civilian objects.”

The organisation said there had been “serious violations of international humanitarian law”, which requires armed forces to only aim attacks at military targets and fighters rather than civilians.

“They are also war crimes and those who order or commit such acts are criminally liable,” Amnesty said.

The report comes as the human rights organisation appealed to the UN to guarantee aid can keep reaching Idlib province, as a resolution letting assistance reach northwest Syria and other parts of the country without the government’s consent is set to expire in July.

“Even by the standards of Syria’s calamitous nine-year crisis, the displacement and humanitarian emergency sparked by the latest onslaught on Idlib has been unprecedented,” Heba Morayef from Amnesty International said.

“The UN Security Council must not cut the vital lifeline of cross-border humanitarian aid while thousands of lives hang in the balance.”

(The Independent, Agencies)