ANKARA, January 31. /TASS/. A number of western countries are providing support to terrorists from the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham terror group (also known as Jabhat al-Nusra, outlawed in Russia) in order to prevent the implementation of the Turkish-Russian agreement concerning the Syrian province of Idlib, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with the Demiroren news outlet.
"Some western countries have been encouraging Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham militants, seeking to destroy the memorandum on Idlib. They are giving them money and supporting them," he said. "I don’t think that Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham is strengthening its positions. They had to leave certain areas [of Syria] but now they are trying to return there," Cavusoglu added.
However, the Turkish top diplomat did not clarify, which countries were providing support to extremists.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during his visit to Moscow on January 23 that Ankara planned to continue joint fight against terrorists in Syria’s Idlib de-escalation zone. The region is still controlled by illegal armed units. A de-escalation zone was established there in 2017 so that militants reluctant to lay down their arms and reconcile with Syrian authorities could move their together with their families.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Turkish leader at their Sochi meeting on September 17, 2018, agreed to create a demilitarized zone along the line of contact in the Idlib province that would be 15-20 kilometers wide. However, Ankara asked for additional time before the launch of joint patrols, as Turkey was unable to ensure security.