"The Secretary-General hopes that this agreement will lead to an immediate and lasting cessation of hostilities that ensures the protection of civilians in northwest Syria, who have already endured enormous suffering", Dujarric said on Thursday.
As a result of six-hour-long talks in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed on a ceasefire in Idlib, which will start at midnight.
According to the document, the ceasefire in Syria’s Idlib province will start at 00:01 on 6 March. Russia and Turkey will start joint patrols on the M4 highway, it reads. The agreement also stipulates that a 12-km security corridor for Syria’s Idlib province will be established to the north and to the south of the highway.
The Turkish government launched 'Operation Spring Shield' last week after Syrian Army attacks on terrorist positions killed dozens of Turkish troops in Idlib. According to Moscow, the Turkish soldiers were operating amongst al-Nusra* militants. Ankara later claimed its army had "neutralised" up to 300 Syrian soldiers.
*Jabhat al-Nusra (also known as Jabhat al-Nusra, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, or al-Qaeda in Syria) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia
