Putin dampens hope for Syria summit

The situation in the last major rebel stronghold Idlib is becoming increasingly dramatic. Almost a million people are on the run. With the help of Turkey, rebels deal a blow to the government.

Idlib / Moscow (dpa) - A further escalation is looming in the hotly contested last major Syrian rebel stronghold Idlib.

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin dampened hopes of a Syria summit proposed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which Germany and France should also take part.

At the same time, with the help of the Turkish army, rebels were able to recapture a strategically important location from the troops of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the first time in a long time, as reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Erdogan had announced a summit with Russia, Germany and France the following Thursday this month. He wanted to talk to Putin, Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron about the situation in Idlib. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert recently confirmed that there was talk of a "timely" meeting without giving an exact date.

"This has not been planned in President Putin's schedule so far," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskow. Putin already had other plans that day. However, there are other formats in which Russia talks to Turkey at expert level about the situation in northern Syria. Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) takes part in UN Security Council deliberations on Syria in New York on Thursday.

Supported by the Russian Air Force, Assad's supporters launched an offensive on the region around Idlib in northwestern Syria last year. In the past few weeks, the army and pro-Iranian militias have made major gains in the terrain.

After fierce fighting, however, rebels have now regained control of the strategically important city of Sarakib, which they had lost this month. The place is located on two connecting roads, both of which have been interrupted by the opposition Syrian National Army. This also includes an axis between the capital Damascus and Aleppo. Turkish artillery had massively fired on Assad's troops, the human rights monitors reported.

Russian military circles denied taking the city. All attacks were intercepted by the Syrian troops, according to the Russian state agency Tass.

Officials say two Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike in the region. The attack was launched by Syrian "regime forces", the state agency Anadolu reported. This means that the number of Turkish military personnel killed in the region in around a month has increased to 19.

Syria's rulers, Bashar al-Assad, had completely occupied Sarakib and the central traffic axis between Damascus and Aleppo earlier this month. Erdogan, however, called for government supporters to withdraw and threatened with military action if it didn't do so by the end of February.

Turkey supports the rebels and has several observation posts in the Idlib region.

The area is dominated by the Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militia, which is closely linked to the Al Qaeda terror network. More moderate groups are also fighting there. Assad's troops are supported by the Russian Air Force and pro-Iranian militias.

According to the UN, nearly 950,000 people have fled violence and Assad troops as of early December. Aid workers complain of a catastrophic humanitarian situation.

There is a lack of accommodation, food, heating materials and medical care. Aid organizations speak of the worst refugee drama since the outbreak of the civil war almost nine years ago.

Aid to Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans frontières / MSF) said that numerous civilians had been victims of attacks on residential areas in the province of Idlib this week. Doctors in hospitals reported 18 deaths and 185 injuries.

"This arbitrary shelling with bombs and grenades on Tuesday can only have come from the Syrian government and its allies," said Meinie Nicolai, director of the MSF Operational Center in Brussels. Two schools and two kindergartens were also hit. Critics accuse the army and Russia of targeting important infrastructure.

Ministry of Defense

Anadolu report