A phone call between Putin and Assad
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad on the developments of the situation in Syria and the implementation of the agreement on the cease-fire in Idlib.
In a statement, the Kremlin said that the call dealt with “a discussion of the situation in Syria, including the implementation of the Russian-Turkish agreements signed on March 5 this year on establishing stability in the Idlib region”.
The Kremlin added that Putin and Assad “also touched on issues of the political process within the framework of the work of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, as well as the issue of humanitarian assistance to Syria”.
Putin also congratulated Assad on the Islamic occasion of the upcoming night of Al Isra wa Al Mi’raj, while the two sides agreed to continue contacts at various levels.
On March 5, the Russian President and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reached a package of decisions to ease tension in Syria’s Idlib, including declaring a ceasefire in the region from 01:00 on March 6, and establishing a safe corridor in specific areas on the “M4” road.
The two sides also agreed to conduct joint Russian-Turkish patrols since March 15, 2020 along the “M4” road, from the town of Tarnbah, which is located two kilometers from the city of Saraqib, to the town of Ain Al Hwar.
Damascus reported that Assad, in a previous phone conversation with Putin, expressed his satisfaction with the agreement between Russia and Turkey on the cease-fire in Idlib.
