US will coordinate with Turkey on Syria's Idlib: envoy

WASHINGTON

The U.S. will continue to coordinate with Turkey in Idlib, Syria where an ongoing offensive has displaced nearly 900,000 civilians since December, Washington’s envoy to the UN Kelly Craft said Wednesday.

Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting in New York, Craft said Washington "unequivocally" rejects statements by Russian officials "falsely blaming Turkey for the escalation of the violence" in northwest Syria.

"The United States will continue to coordinate with Turkey on diplomatic approaches to restore a cease-fire to the Idlib de-escalation zone and achieve a pullback of Assad regime forces to 2018 Sochi ceasefire," said Craft. "There is no doubt that the Assad regime and Russia, not Turkey, are responsible for orchestrating and executing this military offensive.”

In addition, along with the U.S. the envoys for the U.K. and Germany called for end to Syrian regime attacks on Turkey's observation posts in Idlib.

Tensions in the region escalated after Syrian regime attacks in Idlib martyred 12 Turkish troops, who were in northwestern Syria, just across the Turkish border, as part of an anti-terror and peace mission.

In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib province into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

But since more than 1,800 civilians have been killed in attacks by regime and Russian forces, flouting both the 2018 cease-fire and a new one that started Jan. 12.

Assad regime advances have forced more than 1.7 million civilians to flee toward the border with Turkey, which already hosts greater than 3.7 million Syrians, and the largest number of refugees in the world.