Syrian Army forces managed to besiege the Turkish observation post in Mork town, south of Idlib province, after making more field progress in the region at the expense of armed factions, while Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed during a call My phone, on activating efforts to eliminate terrorist threats emanating from the area of de-escalation in Idlib, according to a statement issued by the Kremlin, yesterday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman, told AFP that the army is currently besieging the Turkish observation post in Mork after taking control of the town and all nearby villages and towns in the besieged enclave in the northern countryside of Hama, adjacent to Idlib.
This observation point is the largest, according to the observatory, in Idlib and its environs, where Turkish troops are in 12 locations under an agreement with Russia, an ally of Damascus, to reduce the escalation in Idlib.
The official Syrian News Agency (SANA) reported in an urgent news that «Syrian army units have taken control» on six towns in the northern countryside of Hama, most notably Kafrzita, Latamneh and Murk. These towns have been under faction control since 2012.
The Syrian newspaper Al-Watan, which is close to Damascus, reported on its website that the field developments that the Syrian army recently imposed and drawn a new map in the northern countryside of Hama and the southern countryside of Idlib hoped to find a modified version of the Sochi Agreement.
On the other hand, Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Caoşoglu, confirmed in Beirut yesterday, that his country's soldiers will not leave the encircled checkpoint south of Idlib, shortly after the Syrian army took control of the area.
"We are not there because we cannot leave, but because we do not want to leave," he said, denying that Turkish forces in the town of Murk were "isolated". "We are discussing this issue with Russia and Iran," he said.
This comes at a time when Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, yesterday, that the Syrian army attacks in the northwest of the country caused a major humanitarian crisis, and threaten the Turkish national security, according to the Turkish presidency.
The Turkish presidency added that Erdogan told Putin, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, that the attacks violated a ceasefire in Idlib and damaged efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria.
The Kremlin announced that the Russian president and his Turkish counterpart agreed, by telephone, to "activate joint efforts" on Idlib.
"Besides the upcoming fifth summit of the guarantors of the Astana process in September, other aspects of the Syrian settlement were considered, including the work of Russia, Turkey and Iran, in cooperation with the United Nations, on forming and launching a constitutional committee," the Kremlin press service said in a statement. According to Sputnik.
They also discussed issues of Russian-Turkish cooperation in the context of stabilizing the situation in the de-escalation zone in Idlib, and agreed to intensify joint efforts to eliminate the terrorist threat arising from this region and ensure the implementation of the Sochi Memorandum of 17 September 2018.
The Turkish president will host his Russian and Iranian counterparts in Ankara on September 16 to discuss the situation in Syria, according to the presidential spokesman, at the fifth summit of its kind among the three presidents.
On the other hand, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called last night, Ottawa to return the Canadian militants detained in Syria, while the government of Justin Trudeau recently announced that it will not intervene to contribute to the return of someone known as «Jack».
"We were very clear with the Canadian government," Pompeo said in an interview with CBC public television during a visit to Ottawa. We would like to reclaim their subjects. ”
He added, "We want every country to recover its nationals" currently imprisoned in Syria, after they fought in the ranks of the organization «Daesh», saying that «it is necessary to do so».
The comments come two days after Canada's Public Security Minister, Ralph Goudell, announced that his government had no intention of helping Jack Lates, imprisoned in Syria, after joining ISIS, to return to Canada for trial.
The Syrian newspaper Al-Watan confirmed that "the field developments imposed by the Syrian army hoped to find a modified version of the Sochi Agreement."