Turkey and Russia have agreed on a cease-fire in Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone.

 

The agreement came after hours-long talks between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Moscow.

 

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his counterpart Sergey Lavrov announced the additional protocol to the memorandum on stabilization of the situation in Idlib.

 

The protocol urged to "cease all military actions along the line of contact in the Idlib de-escalation area starting from 00:01 of March 6, 2020."

 

A security corridor will be established 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) deep to the north and to the south from the M4 highway, according to the protocol.

 

"The specific parameters of the functioning of the security corridor will be agreed between the defense ministries of Turkey and Russia within seven days," it noted.

 

Joint patrols by Turkey and Russia will begin on March 15 along the M4 highway from the settlement of Trumba, 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) to the west of Saraqib, to the settlement of Ain-Al-Havr, the protocol also said.

 

On the protocol, Turkey and Russia, as guarantor countries to observe the cease-fire in Syria, recalled the memorandum on the creation of de‑escalation areas in Syria as of May 4, 2017 and the memorandum on stabilization of the situation in the Idlib de-escalation area as of Sept. 17, 2018.

 

The two countries reaffirmed their strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Syria.

 

They also "reaffirmed their determination to combat all forms of terrorism, and to eliminate all terrorist groups in Syria as designated by the UN Security Council, while agreeing that targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure cannot be justified under any pretext."

 

The protocol highlighted that there can be "no military solution to the Syrian conflict and that it can only be resolved through Syrian-led and Syrian-owned, UN facilitated political process in line with the UNSC resolution 2254."

 

It also added that both sides "stressed the importance of prevention of further deterioration of humanitarian situation, protection of civilians and ensuring humanitarian assistance to all Syrians in need without preconditions and discrimination as well as prevention of displacement of people and facilitation of safe and voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their original places of residence in Syria."

 

Turkey announced on Sunday (March 1) that it started the "Operation Spring Shield" against the Damascus government, aiming to make the government forces withdraw behind Turkey's military posts in northwestern Syria.