Russia: Leader, security council discuss Libya, Syria

MOSCOW

Russian President Vladimir Putin convened a working meeting with the country's Security Council Friday to discuss the situation in Libya and Syria.

"The situation in Libya was discussed, and participants spoke in favor of supporting international efforts to resolve the situation in that country," the Kremlin press service said in a statement, published on the presidential website.

The statement also said Security Council members discussed the situation in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province which falls within a de-escalation zone laid out in a deal between Turkey and Russia in late 2018.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.

Despite the Turkey-Russia deal, the Syrian regime and its allies have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the zone.

The de-escalation zone is currently home to some 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces throughout the war-weary country.