Erdogan to meet Putin on Monday for Syria talks

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday amid rising international concern over a looming Syrian government assault in Idlib Province, officials said.

"President Erdogan will meet with Mr. Putin on Monday," Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday. The meeting will take place in the Russian resort city of Sochi, a senior Turkish official told AFP.

Speaking at a joint news conference with his Pakistani counterpart, Cavusoglu said Turkey is working to achieve a ceasefire in Syria's rebel-held northwest and is ready for cooperation to fight terrorist groups in the Idlib area.

Erdogan met with the leaders of Iran and Russia last week in Tehran to discuss Syria, but failed to win a ceasefire pledge.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) speaks during a news conference with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (C) and Russian President Vladimir Putin following their meeting in Tehran, Iran, September 7, 2018. /VCG Photo

UN: 38,500 flee hostilities in Idlib in two weeks

Violence in northwest Syria has displaced more than 38,500 people in less than two weeks amid increasing hostilities and a looming government assault on Idlib, the United Nations said Thursday.

The UN, which has warned a full-fledged assault on Idlib could create the century's "worst humanitarian catastrophe," has created a plan to help up to 900,000 people who could flee the onslaught.

And an exodus has already begun. During the first 12 days of September, "available information indicates that a sharp increase in hostilities and fears of further escalation has led to the displacement of over 38,500 people," the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) said.

That marks a hike of nearly 10,000 people from the figure provided by the UN on Monday. However, OCHA said that 4,500 of those who had fled since September 1 had "spontaneously returned" over the past three days amid a relative decrease in hostilities in western and southern rural parts of Idlib Province.

Members of a Syrian family sit together in a cave seeking shelter from government forces' bombardment, in the village of al-Habit in the south of Idlib Province, Syria, September 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

It said most of those who left their homes had fled towards the north, towards the Turkish border. Others chose to flee into agricultural lands near their original communities "with the hope that they will be able to quickly return ... should the hostilities stop," OCHA said.

The province and adjacent rural areas form the largest piece of territory still held by Syria's beleaguered rebels, worn down by a succession of government victories in recent months.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has now set his sights on Idlib, and his forces and their Russian allies have since the beginning of the month stepped up bombardment of the densely populated province.

Some three million people live in the zone now, about half of them already displaced by the brutal seven-year war and others heavily dependent on humanitarian aid to survive.

(Cover: Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) greets Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan during their meeting before a trilateral Iran-Russia-Turkey summit in Tehran, Iran, September 7, 2018)

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters