Rare calm in Syrian region in wake of recent cease-fire deal
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Syria鈥檚 war-ravaged northwest woke up to relative calm on Friday, its skies free of warplanes for the first day in months, following a Russian-Turkish cease-fire deal.
The agreement raised hopes of an end to one of the bloodiest phases in the nine-year conflict, but residents in Idlib are skeptical this deal will last longer than previous ones.
The agreement creates a security corridor along the key M4 highway in northern Syria, where Turkish and Russian forces will launch joint patrols later this month.
A government offensive on the last rebel bastion in the country has killed hundreds of civilians since December and displaced close to a million people.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call late Friday he was 鈥渟atisfied鈥 with the deal, Syrian officials said.
Putin told reporters after the talks the agreement would 鈥渟erve as a good basis for ending fighting鈥 in Idlib and for 鈥渟topping the suffering of the civilian population.鈥
European and UN officials welcomed the Moscow deal and said they hoped to see a lasting cessation of hostilities, but residents of the conflict-torn region had low expectations.
Ahmad Qaddour, a 29 year old who lives in a displacement camp with his wife and two children, said he has learned to always expect the worst.
鈥淲e do not have any confidence regarding this ceasefire,鈥 he said.
The United Nations has described the mass displacement in just three months as the worst humanitarian emergency since the start of the war in 2011.
Tensions had risen in recent weeks between Damascus and Turkey, which has had troops in northern Syria since 2016 and backs some of the rebel groups.
A strike in Idlib last month killed 34 Turkish soldiers, which Turkey responded to by killing dozens of Syrian government troops.
The M4 highway runs roughly parallel to Syria鈥檚 northern border with Turkey, from northeastern Kurdish-controlled regions to the Mediterranean coast.
The area covered by the deal reached in Moscow lies mostly in Idlib and marks the rough border of a buffer zone Turkey would like to create inside Syria.
Damascus has always insisted it wants to reclaim all land it lost to rebels early in the war, a position Moscow supports.
Turkey however wants to maintain its influence in northern Syria by deploying its forces and proxies in a buffer zone about 30 kilometers deep along the entire border.
The patrols agreed on Thursday mark the first time Russian and Turkish forces operate jointly in Idlib, scheduled to commence March 15, the ninth anniversary of the conflict that has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced millions.
Turkey already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country, and is reluctant to let more in.
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