Turkish and Russian military forces have carried out another joint patrol along a key highway in northwestern Syria, Turkey’s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.
“Fifth combined Turkish-Russian land patrol was conducted today by air and ground vehicles on M4 motorway in Syria’s Idlib province, as part of the earlier TR-RF agreement,” the ministry said on Twitter.
The M4 highway, also known as the Aleppo-Al Hasakah road, is about 30 km from Turkey’s southern border.
Last month, Ankara and Moscow agreed on a protocol urging parties to “cease all military actions along the line of contact in the Idlib de-escalation area” starting March 6.
The protocol said joint Turkish-Russian patrols would begin on March 15 along the M4 highway from the settlement of Trumba – 2 km to the west of Saraqib – to the settlement of Ain al Havr.
Idlib has long been under siege by Assad regime forces and its allies, and previous ceasefires for the region were plagued by violations.
Turkey has been making efforts to protect the local civilian population as well as rid the wider region of various terrorist elements.
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