Pressure exerted by western countries and Turkey on Russia seems to have deferred a looming offensive by the Moscow-backed Syrian regime on the province of Idlib and allowed Ankara to dissolve Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham HTS within weeks.
Turkey fears that a wide-range regime attack on Idlib, which has a population of 3 million people, could cause a new wave of exodus towards its territories.
Media reports said Friday that Ankara has sent reinforcements, especially armored vehicles, to the border with Syria and to observations points it has lately established in the north of the country.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will meet next Monday in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi to review the situation in Idlib.
"I believe an offensive, if there will be one, will not come before several weeks," a senior Turkish official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Erdogan had met with Putin and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on September 7 to discuss Syria and prevent regime forces from attacking Idlib.
However, Erdogan and Putin failed to agree on the main strategy to solve the crisis in the province.
Ankara fiercely opposes a military option in the northwest of its neighboring country.
Meanwhile, UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura met Friday with the so-called "small group" of allied nations, including members from Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.
The meeting came two days following similar talks held between the UN envoy and representatives from the there guarantor countries - Russia, Turkey and Iran.
De Mistura is expected to inform the UN Security Council next Tuesday about the results of his latest talks with parties concerned with the Syrian crisis.
