Lavrov comments on situation in Idlib

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday reconfirmed support for agreements reached between Russian and Turkey over the de-escalation zone in Idlib, northern Syria. Turkey on Friday raised the death toll from a Syrian government airstrike on its forces in northwestern Syria the previous night to 33 Turkish troops, the highest number of Turkish soldiers killed in a single day since Ankara first intervened in the Syrian conflict in 2016.

The deaths, which came in an attack late Thursday, were a serious escalation in the direct conflict between Turkish and Russia-backed Syrian forces that has been waged since early February. The earlier reported death toll was 29 troops.

Commenting at a news conference in Moscow, Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow's commitment to "separate the legitimate opposition from terrorists, to de-militarize an internal strip in that zone, in order to prevent anyone from firing on the Syrian forces and the Russian military base and ensure unhindered use of the roads, which pass through that zone."