Idlib: Erdogan and Putin agree to "intensify consultation" and Guterres: about 3 million need help now

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed - during a telephone conversation between them today - to intensify consultations to reach a ceasefire in the Syrian province of Idlib, according to a statement by the Kremlin.

The two sides also stressed the need for continued contacts between the Russian and Turkish military to intensify to reduce tension.

The Turkish president urged his Russian counterpart to "curb" the forces of the regime that are launching an attack with Russian support in the province, stressing "the need for the humanitarian crisis to end," according to a statement by the Turkish presidency.

The Turkish President told his Russian counterpart that the solution lies in returning to the Sochi Agreement signed in the year 2018, which allowed Turkey to establish military checkpoints in Idlib with the aim of deterring any attack by the Syrian regime in the region.

For his part, Putin expressed his "deep concern" over the "hostilities of terrorists" in Idlib.

Concrete steps
Prior to contacting Putin, Erdogan discussed by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the situation in Idlib and called on them to "take concrete steps to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe," according to the Turkish presidency.

Erdogan also stressed the need to stop the attacks by the Syrian regime and its supporters.

On the other hand, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called today for an immediate ceasefire in Idlib "to avoid an uncontrollable escalation."

"This nightmare, which people have made for the prolonged suffering of the Syrian people, must stop, it must stop now," Guterres told a news conference in New York.

"Despite the de-escalation agreement, we have witnessed serious hostilities by the Syrian government backed by Russian raids ... operations are approaching the most densely populated areas while ignoring the protection of civilians," he added.

Guterres stressed that there is no military solution to the Syrian crisis, noting that more than 900 thousand civilians have been displaced from the fighting areas, most of them women and children, and that about two million and 800 thousand Syrians now need humanitarian aid.

Raids and bombing
On the ground, the Al-Jazeera correspondent reported earlier today that Russian and other raids of the Syrian regime targeted villages and cities in the western countryside of Aleppo near Turkish observation points, in addition to the cities of Kafr Nabl, Jericho, and the town of Qaminas in Idlib countryside.

On the other hand, Turkish forces shelled heavily the locations of the Syrian regime forces in the town of Neirab and the vicinity of the city of Saraqib.

The Al-Jazeera correspondent mentioned - quoting sources in the Syrian opposition - that its attack with the support of the Turkish army on the town of Neirab had stopped.

He added that the opposition fighters withdrew from all the sites that they came to inside the town, with the exception of the poultry region in the vicinity of Neirab, where Turkish forces established a military post there.

Russian media also quoted sources specializing in military aviation monitoring as saying that the Turkish authorities prevented a Russian military cargo plane and two "Sukhoi" bombers from crossing Turkish airspace towards Syria.

The sources pointed out that the three planes had to change course and use the airspace over the Caspian Sea, Iran and Iraq to reach Syria, and confirmed that the Turkish authorities did not grant permission to cross also to a fourth plane belonging to the Russian National Guard.