Syria tells Turkey to withdraw troops

DAMASCUS: Syria on Saturday demanded the “immediate and unconditional withdrawal” of Turkish troops that have deployed in the country’s northwestern province of Idlib, state media said citing a foreign ministry source. Turkish troops entered Idlib last Thursday night as part of efforts to enforce a so-called “de-escalation zone” agreed by rebel backer Ankara and Syrian allies at talks in Astana earlier this year. But the Syrian foreign ministry source slammed the “Turkish aggression”, saying it had “nothing whatsoever to do with the understandings reached by the guarantor countries in the Astana process.” The source added that the deployment was “a violation of these understandings and a departure from them.” “The Turkish government must abide by what was agreed in Astana.”