Page 32 - BNE_magazine_03_2020 wellness

32 I Southeast Europe bne March 2020
There are conflicting reports on whether Syrian government forces have managed to regain full control of the M5 Damascus to Aleppo highway for the first time since 2012.
Erdogan issues ultimatum to Syria
bne IntelliNews
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on February 12 issued an ultimatum to Syria: from
now on, if even one Turkish soldier in the contested Syrian province of Idlib suffers “the smallest injury”, the Turkish military will strike the Russian-backed forces of Syria’s government by air or ground anywhere it chooses to do so.
Thirteen Turkish soldiers have lost their lives in 10 days during shelling that took place as part of a push by the military
of President Bashar al-Assad to retake Idlib – the last province in Syria held by insurgents – and declare victory in the nine-year-old Syrian Civil War. Erdogan added in his latest comments that Ankara is determined to push Syrian government forces beyond 12 Turkish observation posts set up in Idlib by the end of February. At the same time, he urged Syrian rebels allied with Turkey not to give the Syrian forces an excuse to attack.
www.bne.eu
Crucial to the outcome of the standoff is what kind of approach Moscow will take in advising Damascus, also backed by Iran, on how it should respond to Erdogan’s tough line. Following the Turkish president’s comments, the Kremlin accused Turkey of flouting an agreement it made with Russia in 2018
to be unacceptable and in contravention of that same agreement drawn up to create a de-militarised zone in Idlib.
"In particular, according to this document [the agreement], the Turkish side undertook to ensure that terrorist groups in Idlib were neutralised," said Peskov,
“The Kremlin accused Turkey of flouting an agreement it made with Russia in 2018 to neutralise “terrorist” militants in Idlib”
to neutralise “terrorist” militants in Idlib. Stating that militant attacks on Syrian and Russian forces in the region were continuing, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow remained committed to a deal on Syria it had struck with Ankara, but that Russia considered militant attacks in Idlib
according to Reuters. "We continue to note with regret that these groups are carrying out strikes from Idlib on Syrian forces and also taking aggressive action against our military facilities."
Russia and Turkey, however, remain allied by several major common