Erdogan rules out ‘smallest step back’ in Syria’s Idlib
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday vowed Turkey would not take the "smallest step back" in an escalating stand-off with Damascus and Russia over the northern Syrian region of Idlib. Meanwhile, a meeting between Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is expected to take place, the Turkish foreign minister, ahead of a possible summit including EU heavyweights Germany and France to find a political solution to the Idlib crisis. In recent weeks, Damascus backed by Russian air strikes has pressed a major offensive against the remaining territory held by jihadists and Turkish-backed rebels in Idlib. Idlib hosts more than three million people -- half of them already displaced by violence elsewhere and the United Nations has warned against an imminent "bloodbath" amid the contiuing fighting.
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