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ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Turkey gathered Saturday in Istanbul for a summit on Syria, where violence takes place this week in the last remaining major fortress, highlighting the fragility of an agreement to avoid a mbadive government offensive.
Ankara, which has long supported the rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, and Moscow, Assad's main foreign ally, negotiated the agreement last month, creating a demilitarized zone in the northwestern region of Idlib.
Idlib and adjacent areas are the last stronghold of the rebels, who rose up against Assad in 2011. The area is home to about 3 million inhabitants, more than half
Artillery fire in Idlib killed at least seven civilians on Friday, the biggest loss of lives in the region since the end of Russian air strikes in mid – August.
Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Erdogan are scheduled to meet in Istanbul on Saturday. Putin spoke on the phone with Macron and Erdogan before the summit.
U.N. The Syrian envoy Staffan de Mistura, who will leave his post at the end of next month for family reasons, also takes part.
As part of their agreement last month, Turkey and Russia agreed to create a 15 to 20 km (9-13 mile) buffer zone in a rebel territory that was to be evacuated from all heavy weapons and of all jihadist fighters.
(Reportage of Maria Tsvetkova and Can Sezer; Writing of Ali Kucukgocmen and David Dolan; Peter Graff Edition)
The narrative was not edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by automatic feeding.
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