Russian and Turkish forces in Syria’s province of Idlib have had to shorten their first joint patrol mission in order to prevent extremists to disrupt their work, using civilians as human shields, the Russian military said.
On Sunday, Turkey and Russia set out on their first joint patrol along the security corridor in Idlib agreed as part of a ceasefire deal reached by presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Teyyip Erdogan in early March. The route of the patrol went along the strategic M4 highway linking Syria’s city of Aleppo to the coastal western province of Latakia and passing through the territories held by various militant groups.
Yet, the Russian and the Turkish forces had to cut their mission short due to the risk of another escalation as the local terrorist groups sought to provoke some military response from the patrol while using women and children as human shields.
“The Russian-Turkish coordination center decided to cut the route distance short … to avoid any incident that could result in civilian suffering,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding that Turkey was given more time to clear out the extremists and ensure safety of the further joint missions.
The joint missions were agreed by Moscow and Ankara as part of a package of various de-escalation measures in Idlib after a Syrian Army offensive in the area targeting various extremist and militant groups infuriated Turkey and put the two nations on a brink of a full-blown war with each other. Russia then took diplomatic efforts to ease the tensions and eventually managed to strike a deal with Ankara following several rounds of uneasy talks.
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