The United States, the United Kingdom, and France have requested a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in northwestern Syria, a source in the UNSC said. The meeting will probably be held on Thursday, the source added.
Earlier in the day, the General Staff of the Syrian army said it is giving one last chance to the militants operating in the province of Idlib to lay down their arms, adding that Syrian government forces were continuing its military operation against militants who have been fighting civilians and using them as "shields" in Saraqib and Tell Touqan in Idlib.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on the parties involved to stop their military actions in Syria's northwest.
On 3 February, the Turkish Defence Ministry said that six Turkish servicemen had been killed in an attack by the Syrian Army in Idlib, pledging to take retaliatory action.
Syrian government forces have intensified military efforts in Idlib recently in a bid to recapture control of a region that has been a home for militants since 2012. The last portion of it is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as Al-Nusra Front), the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda.
Out of four de-escalations zones created in Syria back in May 2017 by Russia, Iran, and Turkey, Idlib remains the only one that is not under the control of the Syrian government.
In September 2018, Moscow and Ankara agreed to create a demilitarised zone along the contact line between the armed opposition and government forces in Idlib. Not all militants have laid down their arms, with the province remaining a stronghold of various terrorist groups.
*Al-Nusra Front (also known as Jabhat al-Nusra, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, or al-Qaeda in Syria), al-Qaeda are terrorist groups outlawed in Russia
