“Ankara hosted three-hour negotiations between interdepartmental delegations led by Turkish and Russian deputy foreign ministers, Sedat Onal and Sergei Vershinin, with the participation of Russian Special Presidential Representative on Syria Alexander Lavrentyev. The delegations included representatives of the two countries' foreign ministries, military and intelligence agencies. The negotiations focused on the situation in Syria's Idlib, as well as steps to advance political process in Syria. It was decided to continue negotiations next week", the spokesperson said.

A day earlier, the Anadolu News Agency reported that Turkey is moving its special forces to observation posts in the Idlib de-escalation zone.

According to the agency, a convoy of 300 trucks and armoured vehicles arrived in the Hatay Province of southern Turkey. Special forces units were deployed to the border as well, it added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on 5 February that he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad into withdrawing troops from the borders of the de-escalation zone and preventing attacks on Turkish forces in the region.

Smoke rises over the Deir Sharqi village, about four kilometres from the town of Maarrat al-Numan, southern Idlib province, Syria. Deir Sharqi and some other jihadist-held villages near the key town Maarrat al-Numan were captured by Syrian army forces.

The situation in Idlib has been tense for the past several months amid continued militant attacks on civilians and government forces in the region. It further deteriorated this week after Turkish military officers came under fire of the Syrian government forces in Idlib. In a retaliatory attack, Turkish troops struck over 50 targets and killed 76 Syrian army troops, according to Defence Minister Hulusi Akar.

Reporter’s code: 50101