Putin, Erdogan start talks on Syria in Moscow

Russian strikes kill 15 civilians in northwest Syria

Maaret Misrin (Syria): Russian air strikes on Thursday killed at least 15 civilians, including a child, in the last major opposition bastion of Idlib in northwestern Syria, a Britain-based war monitor said. The strikes after midnight targeted an area where displaced Syrians had gathered outside the town of Maaret Misrin in Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. AFP

US Syria envoy urges European support for Turkey

Istanbul: A senior US official on Thursday urged Europe to support Turkey’s military operation in Syria, where it has lost more than 50 soldiers trying to hold back a Russian-backed offensive on Idlib. “One of the principles that the president (Donald Trump) and the US Congress share is that there should be a collective effort, not just of Turkey and the US but of our NATO allies, essentially the Europeans,” the US special representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, told a conference in Istanbul. “We are pressing the Europeans to contribute a great deal,” he added. AFP

Moscow, March 5

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan began talks in Moscow on Thursday aimed at defusing the crisis in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib.

“The situation… in Idlib has become so aggravated that it requires us to have a direct personal conversation,” Putin said at the start of the meeting.

The two Presidents were meeting after a surge in fighting in Syria raised fears of their armies clashing and launched a new migrant crisis.

“The entire world has its eyes fixed on us,” Erdogan told Putin. “The measures and appropriate decisions we will take here will calm the region and our two countries.” Erdogan said before arriving in Moscow that he would be looking for Putin to agree to a rapid ceasefire in Idlib, where Ankara is battling Moscow-backed regime forces.

Putin expressed his condolences for the deaths of Turkish soldiers in Syria, where dozens have been killed in recent weeks as Ankara for the first time launched a direct offensive against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

But he also pointed out that the Syrian army had “unfortunately… suffered serious losses”.

“We need to talk about everything, so that nothing like this happens again and it does not destroy Russian-Turkish relations, which I know you also value,” Putin said. AFP