Turkish President Erdoğan and his counterpart Putin have repeatedly met each other in recent years to coordinate their moves in Syria. In September 2018, they reached a de-escalation deal on Idlib in Sochi, Russia, aimed at turning Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression and offensive are expressly prohibited. With nowhere to go, many have crowded at the border with Turkey, which hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees and refuses to allow others in. In October, an agreement between the two leaders carved up the zone further east along the border, with each deploying forces to fill the void after Donald Trump’s order to withdraw US forces there. Moreover, Turkey launched the Operation Spring Shield, its fourth Syria operation as of 27 February 2020. The operation has made Russia feel Turkey’s seriousness on the ground, wreaking havoc on the Syrian regime side.
A summit between the leaders of Turkey and Russia are meeting today in Moscow in an attempt to resolve differences amid intensifying fighting between Turkish and Syrian government forces in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province. It may be the last chance to work out a deal that avoids further calamity in north-west Syria. Tensions have flared up between Turkey, which backs some rebel groups, and Russia, which backs the Syrian regime. The leaders haven’t met face-to-face since Syrian forces launched an offensive in rebel-held Idlib, drawing in thousands of Turkish troops and displacing nearly 1 million people who Erdogan fears could end up crossing the border into Turkey.