Turkey insists on supporting its checkpoints in Idlib and Russia accuses it of violating the agreements

Turkey has confirmed that it will maintain and support all its checkpoints in Idlib, while a Russian official accused Ankara of violating the Sochi Agreement, and defended the Syrian regime's attack on Idlib and targeting a Turkish convoy.

Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kulan said on Wednesday that all Turkish checkpoints in Syria established under an agreement with Russia and Iran would remain and Ankara would continue to support them. "We have informed the Russian side of our displeasure with the attacks on Idlib."

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will call Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in the coming days to discuss developments in Syria, they told reporters after a ministerial meeting.

He added that a schedule agreed with the United States on the planned safe area east of the Euphrates River in Syria would be implemented gradually in the coming weeks, and that Turkish and US forces would begin joint patrols in the region "soon."

For his part, Chairman of the Security and Defense Committee of the Russian Federation Council Vladimir Shamanov said that the recent steps taken by Turkey in the Idlib region are contrary to the Sochi agreement between the two countries, adding that there is a difference of views with Ankara in this regard, and that Moscow has repeatedly warned the Turkish side That this difference will sooner or later lead to "real contradictions."

The Russian official said that the position of the Syrian side, whose sovereignty also includes the Idlib region, can not be ignored, which led to a strike against Turkish forces recently.

Shamanov added that there are favorable conditions for joint action in Idlib that must be acted upon instead of "intransigence". He also expressed his country's unwillingness to repeat such incidents.

A Turkish military convoy heading to a checkpoint near the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province was hit on Monday by the Syrian regime, where the latter considered that Turkey was trying to save the opposition.

After that, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned the Syrian regime of what he called playing with fire, saying that his country will not move the checkpoint from the perimeter of Khan Sheikhoun, and that the military convoy "will continue his mission."

Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that the Turkish military convoy is still stopped in the town of Maar Hatat in the southern countryside of Idlib without being able to station or reach its destination to establish two observation posts in the vicinity of Khan Sheikhoun.