Turkey Warns Against Disturbing North Syria’s Fragile Balance

Smoke billows after an attack on the Idlib countryside in northwestern Syria. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Smoke billows after an attack on the Idlib countryside in northwestern Syria. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Turkey Warns Against Disturbing North Syria’s Fragile Balance

Smoke billows after an attack on the Idlib countryside in northwestern Syria. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Smoke billows after an attack on the Idlib countryside in northwestern Syria. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Turkey has warned that targeting civilians and harming stability in Syria prevents a lasting solution to the conflict in the war-torn country.

Turkey’s National Security Council stressed that targeting civilians would harm stability in Syria and disturb the “fragile balance” in the region.

In a statement on Thursday, the Council highlighted the responsibility of actors and parties involved in the Syrian conflict to achieve peace, stability and prosperity for Syrians.

Meanwhile, developments in opposition-held Idlib province indicated that there was no significant change in the situation following the meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday.

The two presidents held talks in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi and discussed curbing renewed violence in northwest Syria.

They agreed to abide by the previous agreements and understandings, whether on Idlib or northeast Syria.

Erdogan said a roadmap to achieve stability in Idlib is being prepared between both countries’ defense and foreign affairs ministers.

Military escalation resumed on Friday in the de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria after hours of calm in Idlib.

Russian warplanes resumed their aerial bombardment in al-Ziyyarah towns in Sahl al-Ghab in the northwestern countryside of Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.



‘We Are Breaking the Bodies and Minds of Children of Gaza’, Says WHO Executive Director

 Palestinians look at the damage after an Israeli army airstrike in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians look at the damage after an Israeli army airstrike in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP)
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‘We Are Breaking the Bodies and Minds of Children of Gaza’, Says WHO Executive Director

 Palestinians look at the damage after an Israeli army airstrike in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians look at the damage after an Israeli army airstrike in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP)

The minds and bodies of children in Gaza are being broken following two months of aid blockade and renewed strikes, the Executive Director of the World Health Organization Emergencies programs said on Thursday.

Since March 2 Israel has blocked the entry of medical, fuel, and food supplies into Gaza.

"We are breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza. We are complicit," Deputy Director General Michael Ryan told reporters at the WHO's headquarters.

"As a physician I am angry. It is an abomination," he said.

Israel says the decision to block the supplies was aimed at pressuring Hamas to free hostages as the ceasefire agreement stalled.

"The current level of malnutrition is causing a collapse in immunity," Ryan said, warning that cases of pneumonia and meningitis in women and children could increase.

Israel has previously denied that Gaza was facing a hunger crisis. It has not made clear when and how aid will be resumed.

Israel's military accuses Hamas of diverting aid, which Hamas denies.

The United Nations warned this week that acute malnutrition among Gaza's children was worsening.