Russia's special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, said on Thursday that Moscow had tried to persuade Ankara to cancel its plan to launch a military operation in northern Syria, during talks in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the Russian TASS news agency reported.

"We tried to convince them (the Turks) that the matter should be resolved through peaceful means without resorting to violence, because this could lead to an escalation," the Russian envoy said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened since the end of last May to carry out a new military operation in two regions in northern Syria against the Kurdish People's Protection Units, which Ankara classifies as a terrorist organization.

The Kurdish faction is an ally of the United States in Syria to fight Islamic State.

Kazakhstan talks

In a related context, Russia, Turkey and Iran said - in a joint statement today, Thursday - after the Kazakhstan talks that they agreed to make more efforts to ensure the stability of the situation in the de-escalation zone in Idlib governorate, northern Syria.

The joint statement of the three countries guarantor of the implementation of the de-escalation agreements in northern Syria added that maintaining calm on the ground is "through the full implementation of all agreements on Idlib," without specifying what this means for Turkey's plans to implement a military operation targeting the Kurdish People's Protection Units.

The Kazakhstan talks were attended by the head of the Syria department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Selcuk Unal, from the Turkish side, from the Russian side, the President's special representative in Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, and from the Iranian side, Ali Asgari Haji, Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs.

Also participating in the talks are the delegations of the opposition and the Syrian regime, and Robert Dunn, who is responsible for political issues to the United Nations Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen, in addition to the Jordanian delegation as an observer.

Moscow and Washington

And Moscow had said - yesterday, Wednesday - that the possible Turkish military operation in Syria "will not help in achieving stability and will lead to an escalation of the situation."

Washington also expressed its deep concern about the Turkish president's threats to the Kurdish People's Protection Units, and the United States warned that Turkey's implementation of its offensive in northern Syria "will destabilize the region and weaken the war on extremist groups."

On the other hand, Ankara says that it must act in Syria to preserve its national security, because Washington and Moscow "break their promises to push the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) 30 kilometers away from the Syrian-Turkish border," and Turkey says that the attacks from the areas controlled by the People's Protection Units in Syria has increased.

It should be noted that Turkey, with the support of factions in the armed Syrian opposition, has carried out 4 operations in northern Syria since 2016, seizing hundreds of kilometers of land, and those operations focused on a 30-kilometer strip, targeting mainly the Kurdish People's Protection Units.