Kremlin Hopes for ‘Good Talks’ with Erdogan on Wednesday

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Kremlin Hopes for ‘Good Talks’ with Erdogan on Wednesday

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a comprehensive round of talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday in Sochi. Discussions between the two leaders will likely focus on Syria, especially developments on the ground around the northern Idlib province.

Russian diplomats stressed that the talks would be “decisive” in terms of setting future visions for previous understandings on Idlib. Paving the way for the meeting, the Kremlin said Moscow hopes that the two presidents hold “good talks.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitriy Peskov confirmed the Putin-Erdogan summit would focus on the situation in Idlib as well as a host of issues in which Moscow and Akara can cooperate.

“Putin and Erdogan have found the potential to negotiate to reach an agreement on Idlib by showing political will,” said Peskov.

“The agreements have been reached. Unfortunately, the activity of terrorists continues in those regions,” he added.

Noting that the situation was unacceptable and dangerous, Peskov said it hinders the solution process in Syria.

“All of this will be on the summit’s agenda,” he noted.

“Despite everything, Turkey is a partner with whom we have very developed relations and with whom we also have differences of opinion,” explained Peskov.

The Kremlin spokesman stressed that there are indeed very trust-based relations between Putin and Erdogan and that these relations lay the groundwork for serious negotiations.

The Turkish president had said earlier that the meeting’s agenda would include developments in the de-escalation zone in the Syrian province of Idlib and the reality of bilateral relations.

Erdogan pointed out the importance of the role that Turkey and Russia play in the region, noting that Ankara “did not see any differences in relations with Moscow.”

Russian and Turkish analysts, officials, and diplomats had suggested that the summit would result in important decisions regarding the arrangements for the situation in Idlib.

Russian diplomats suggested that the two presidents would likely discuss “new understandings” on Idlib against the backdrop of the failure to implement a part of the terms of the previous agreement signed in 2018.



Israeli Army Bombards Homes in North Gaza, Airstrike Kills 15, Medics Say

A Palestinian boy inspects the destruction at the site of an Israeli strike that targeted a home in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on December 2, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy inspects the destruction at the site of an Israeli strike that targeted a home in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on December 2, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)
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Israeli Army Bombards Homes in North Gaza, Airstrike Kills 15, Medics Say

A Palestinian boy inspects the destruction at the site of an Israeli strike that targeted a home in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on December 2, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy inspects the destruction at the site of an Israeli strike that targeted a home in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on December 2, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)

Israeli forces bombarded houses in overnight attacks in the northern Gaza Strip, killing at least 15 people in one of the buildings in the town of Beit Lahiya, Palestinian medics said on Monday.

Several others were wounded in the attack and others were missing after a house providing shelter to displaced people was struck, with rescue workers unable immediately to reach them, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said.

The three barely operational hospitals in the area were unable to cope with the number of wounded, they added.

Clusters of houses were bombed and some set ablaze in Jabalia and in Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, where the Israeli army has been operating for several weeks, residents said.

They said Israeli drones had dropped bombs outside a school sheltering displaced families, suggesting this was intended to scare them into leaving.

The Palestinians say Israel's army is trying to clear people out of the northern edge of Gaza with forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone. The Israeli army denies this.

The Israeli military, which began its offensive against Hamas in Gaza after the group's attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, has said its latest operations in northern Gaza are meant to prevent militants regrouping and waging attacks from those areas.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 44,400 people and displaced most of the population, Gaza officials say. Vast swathes of the enclave lie in ruins.

About 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage in the Hamas attack on the October 2023 attack on Israel, according to Israeli tallies.

NEW CEASEFIRE PUSH

Israel agreed a ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah last week, but the conflict in Gaza has continued.

Officials in Cairo have hosted talks between Hamas and the rival Fatah group led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the possible establishment of a committee to run post-war Gaza.

Egypt has proposed that a committee made up of non-partisan technocrat figures, and supervised by Abbas's authority, should be ready to run Gaza straight after the war ends. Israel has said Hamas should have no role in governance.

An official close to the talks said progress had been made but no final deal had been reached. Israel's approval would be decisive in determining whether the committee could fulfill its role. Egyptian security officials have also held talks with Hamas on ways to reach a ceasefire with Israel.

A Palestinian official close to the mediation effort told Reuters Hamas stood by its condition that any agreement must bring an end to the war and involve an Israeli troop withdrawal out, but would show the flexibility needed to achieve that.

Israel has said the war will end only when Hamas no longer governs Gaza and poses no threat to Israelis.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Sunday there was some indication of progress towards a hostage deal but that Israel's conditions for ending the war had not changed.

White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said he thought the chances of a ceasefire and hostage deal were now more likely.