Russia Wants Turkey to Do More to Clear Militants in Syria's Idlib

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow on Thursday, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the situation in Idlib was rapidly deteriorating and Tahrir al-Sham was trying to seize control of the entire area, World News reported.

"Given the extremely difficult situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone, we expect our Turkish partners to activate their efforts to ultimately turn the tide and to fully carry out the obligations they took upon themselves," Zakharova added.

The comments came with Russian President Vladimir Putin due to meet the leaders of Turkey and Iran next week at a summit in the Southern Russian city of Sochi, where they are expected to discuss Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated last month "terrorist" groups were operating in about 70 percent of the demilitarised zone in Idlib, which he said went against the September deal.

Turkey and Russia agreed in September to create a demilitarised zone in Northwest Idlib region that would be evacuated of all heavy weapons and hardline fighters. Ankara pledged to disarm and remove Hayet Tahrir al-Sham dominating there, according to the deal, which prevented the Moscow-backed Syrian government from launching a major military operation in the region to wipe the group.

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