Putin and Erdogan urgently discuss situation in Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have held a telephone conversation to discuss the Syria issue, the Kremlin press service said.

According to the statement, the two leaders discussed "various aspects of activities aimed at resolving to resolve the Syrian crisis, focusing on the situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone and the need to fully implement Russian-Turkish agreements, including the memorandum of September 17, 2018."

After the conversation, Erdogan said that Turkey is determined to drive Syrian forces beyond its observation points in Syria’s Idlib province before the end of February.

"Turkey is determined to drive the forces of the regime [of Syrian President Bashar Assad] beyond the Idlib de-escalation zone boundaries, beyond our observation points, before the end of February," TASS cited him as saying.

According to Erdogan. Ankara is "ready to use any necessary force." The head of state underscored that Turkey would conduct strikes on Syrian army positions "even beyond the territories outlined in Sochi memorandum in cases of attacks against the Turkish military."

On February 10, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense said that at least five Turkish servicemen died Monday during a shelling in Syria’s Idlib. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to help end ceasefire violations in Syria’s Idlib,