ISTANBUL: Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan told Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday he should stop Syrian attacks on its opposition in northern Syria if he wants peace negotiations to succeed, Turkish presidential sources said.
Erdogan spoke to Putin on the phone, they said.
Turkey has been fiercely opposed to Syrian president Bashar Assad during his country’s six-year-old civil war but has recently been working with his allies Russia and Iran for a political resolution to the conflict.
The three countries had agreed last year to establish a “de-escalation zone” in the opposition-held Idlib province and surrounding region, which borders Turkey.
However, a government offensive helped by Iran-backed militia has gathered pace in Idlib in the last two weeks, according to rebels and a military media unit run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which is fighting on the Syrian government side.
Rebels launched a counter attack on Thursday.
Turkey on Tuesday called the Russian and Iranian ambassadors to its ministry of foreign affairs to ask the envoys to urge the Syrian government in Damascus to end the border violations in the Idlib de-escalation zone.
Russia’s defense ministry had asked the Turkish military on Wednesday to tighten control over armed groups in Idlib after two groups of drones attacked Russian bases on Jan. 6.
Syrian state media, citing a foreign ministry source, said on Thursday that regime forces were fighting to “liberate from the terrorism of the Nusra Front and the other terrorist organizations that belong to it.”
Turkey has accused the Syrian government of using the presence of the Nusra Front, which now fights under the banner of the Tahrir Al-Sham alliance, as an excuse to attack civilians and moderate opposition groups.
Humanitarian aid organizations, rescuers and activists allege the Syrian and Russian air forces have struck hospitals, schools and market places in congested residential areas in rebel-held towns.
Both the Syrian army and Moscow deny hitting civilian areas and say intensive raids only strike at militants.
Erdogan calls on Putin to end northern Syria attacks by regime forces
Erdogan calls on Putin to end northern Syria attacks by regime forces
Chile wildfires leave 19 dead amid extreme heat as scores evacuated
- Fast-moving wildfires being worsened by intense heat, winds
- Firefighters battling 23 active blazes spreading toward cities
CONCEPCION, Chile: Wildfires in Chile have left at least 19 people dead, authorities said on Monday, as the government carried out mass evacuations and fought nearly two dozen blazes exacerbated by intense heat and high winds.
While weather conditions overnight helped control some fires, the largest were still active, with adverse conditions expected throughout the day, security minister, Luis Cordero, said at a news briefing on Monday.
“The projection we have today is of high temperatures,” Cordero said, and the main worry was that new fires would be triggered throughout the region.
Parts of central and southern Chile were under extreme heat warnings with temperatures expected to reach up to 37 Celsius (99 Fahrenheit).
STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED IN NUBLE, BIO BIO
As of late Sunday, Chile’s CONAF forestry agency said firefighters were combating 23 fires across the country, the largest of which were in regions of Ñuble and Bío Bío, where President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe.
Over 20,000 hectares (77 square miles) have been razed so far, an area about the size of Seattle, with the largest fire surpassing 14,000 hectares on the outskirts of the coastal city Concepcion.
The fast-moving blaze tore through the towns of Penco and Lirquen over the weekend, destroying hundreds of homes and killing several people, with authorities still assessing the damage.
HEAT, BLAZES ALSO IMPACT ARGENTINA
Authorities are currently battling the fire as it threatened Manzano prison on the edge of Concepcion and the town of Tome to the north.
Both Chile and Argentina rang in the new year with heat waves which have continued into January. Earlier this month, wildfires broke out in Argentina’s Patagonia, burning around 15,000 hectares.
