ANKARA 

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke with his Russian counterpart over the phone on Monday.  

According to diplomatic sources, Cavusoglu and Sergey Lavrov discussed the recent development in Syria's northwestern city of Idlib after six Turkish military personnel were martyred in a regime strike earlier in the day.

Turkey and Russia agreed in September 2018 to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the zone, killing at least 1,300 civilians since the agreement.

In a fresh move, Turkey announced on Jan. 10 that a new cease-fire in Idlib would start just after midnight on Jan. 12. However, the regime and Iran-backed terrorist groups continued their ground attacks.