MUNICH, February 15. /TASS/. Disagreements between Moscow and Ankara over Syria’s Idlib will have no impact on the deliveries of S-400 air defense systems, nor on the two countries’ ties in general, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday after his talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
"We cannot change our principled positions and policies due to occasional disagreements with one country or another. We must not allow the problems in Syria to undermine our cooperation and relationship," he said.
The situation in Idlib deteriorated dramatically after Russian and Turkish militaries’ another attempt to enforce a ceasefire was met by terrorists ramping up their attacks. As a result, military specialists from Russia and Turkey were killed. The Syrian army retaliated, striking extremists and capturing the town of Saraqib near Idlib on February 5.
In the morning of February 11, the Syrian opposition supported by Turkey launched mass-scale attacks on Syrian army troops on two fronts - the town of Saraqib and the community of Nayrab situated to the north of Saraqib in Idlib. The opposition’s offensive was carried out with the fire support from the Turkish artillery. Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists (banned in Russia) took an active part in the fighting. Nevertheless, Syrian forces repelled these attacks, while militants suffered huge losses in those who died and was injured.