Russia, Iran, Turkey agree on Idlib zone borders

Russia, Iran, and Turkey, which together act as guarantor states in peace talks for Syria, have agreed on the details of a “de-escalation zone” in the Arab country’s western Idlib province during resolution talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana.

According to Press TV, in a joint statement after two days of talks in Kazakhstan, the three countries said on Friday that they had agreed "to allocate" their forces to patrol the zone covering Idlib province and parts of the neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo regions.

"Observers from these three countries will be deployed at check and observation points in safe zones that form the borders of the de-escalation zone," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

"The main mission of these observers has been defined as the prevention of clashes between the regime and the opposition forces and any violations of the truce," it added.

The original agreement on the creation of the four zones, which came about in May, has been one of the substantive results of the talks, many rounds of which have taken place since January.

So far, agreements had been reached on the demarcation of three of the zones in Idlib’s neighboring provinces of Latakia, Aleppo, and Hama.

SS