Turkey continues to arm terrorist groups in Idlib, evades Sochi commitments: Syrian UN envoy

Syria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Hussam Eddin Ala, says Turkey has been providing various types of munitions to foreign-sponsored terrorist groups operating in the country’s militant-held northwestern province of Idlib, and reneging on its commitments under the Sochi agreement.

Speaking at a session of the Human Rights Council on Tuesday, Ala stated that the Damascus government has taken all the necessary measures to protect civilians in Idlib, including opening two humanitarian corridors there.

He added that thousands of citizens have passed through Suran corridor and returned back to their home villages and towns in Hama and Idlib provinces over the past few days.

He added that the Ankara government continues to offer ammunition to terror outfits active in Idlib, and evades its commitments under the Sochi agreement.

PressTV-Russia, Turkey agree Idlib demilitarized zone

The deal was hammered out after lengthy talks between the Russian and Turkish leaders in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Under the Sochi agreement, all militants in the demilitarized zone that surrounds Idlib and also parts of the provinces of Aleppo and Hama were supposed to pull out heavy arms by October 17 last year, and Takfiri groups had to withdraw two days earlier.

The National Front for the Liberation of Syria is the main Turkish-backed militant alliance in Idlib region, but the Takfiri Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group, which is a coalition of different factions of terror outfits largely composed of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, holds a large part of the province and the zone.

The HTS, which is said to be in control of some 60 percent of Idlib, has yet to announce its stance on the buffer zone deal.

PressTV-Displaced Syrians return home in Hama, Idlib

The government has been making efforts to return the displaced to their homes over the past months.

Ala further noted that Syrian government troops are carrying out their national duties as regards combating terrorism in Idlib, and are fairly determined to eliminate all terror hotbeds from the Syrian soil.

The Syrian UN ambassador went on to say that Damascus spares no effort to protect civilian facilities, which terrorists have used as their bases and positions to launch attacks on neighboring areas.

PressTV-28k Syrian refugees 'hostage' of US-controlled militants

The Russian and Syrian coordination headquarters raise alarm at the situation in the Rukban 'death camp,' saying about 28,000 Syria refugees have been taken 'hostage' by US-controlled militants there.

He highlighted that the US troops and terrorist groups in al-Tanf area are responsible for the deteriorating humanitarian crisis at Rukban refugee camp in a desolate area near the Jordanian frontier, adding that the Syrian government has facilitated the return of more than 30,000 residents of the camp to their hometowns.

Ala then dismissed a recent report by the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, emphasizing that it avoids enumerating human rights violations and war crimes being perpetrated by the US-led military coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh terrorist group and US-sponsored and Kurdish-led militants from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), including shelling civilians and civilian infrastructure.

PressTV-‘SDF actions in Syria in line with US vassal states’ schemes’

The Syrian foreign ministry says SDF terrorist actions are in line with plots devised by Israel and implemented by US vassal states.

He held Washington and US-paid separatist militants responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe at the al-Hol camp in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah, which has affected more than 70,000 displaced people.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.

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