Tehran, Iran, Sept. 18
Trend:
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said “intensive responsible diplomacy” between Iran, Russia and Turkey is helping avert war in the Arab country’s northwestern province of Idlib.
“Intensive responsible diplomacy over the last few weeks-pursued in my visits to Ankara & Damascus, followed by the Iran-Russia-Turkey Summit in Tehran and the meeting in Sochi - is succeeding to avert war in Idlib with a firm commitment to fight extremist terror. Diplomacy works,” Zarif said in a message posted on his Twitter account on September 18.
This came after Russia and Turkey announced recently that they have agreed to create a demilitarized buffer zone in Idlib province to separate government forces from rebel fighters based there.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said it would be 15km to 25km (9-15 miles) wide and come into force by 15 October.
Troops from Russia, an ally of Syria's government, and Turkey, which backs the rebels, will patrol the zone.
The UN had warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if the Syrian army launched an all-out assault to retake Idlib.
But after Monday's meeting between Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the deal meant there would be no such operation in the region.
A trilateral summit was held in Tehran on Friday between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian and Turkish counterparts, as well as between Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, about the Syrian crisis.