Bashar al-Assad

Hundreds and thousands of displaced Syrians have started to return to their homes in war-ravaged Idlib province, after the cease-fire was ensured in the province, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency.

Mohamed al-Hallaj, director of the Response Coordinators Team, told Anadolu Agency that over 100,000 Syrians, who were staying at camps, returned to their homes.

The global chemical weapons watchdog on April 8 for the first time explicitly blamed Syria for toxic attacks, saying President Bashar al-Assad's air force used the nerve gas sarin and chlorine three times in 2017.    

Turkey's Defense Ministry said on March 19 that two of its soldiers were killed and another was injured in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, in a rocket attack by "some radical groups".

In a written statement, the ministry said the radical groups in the de-escalation zone attacked Turkish soldiers, adding that its forces had opened fire on targets in the area.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged further funds for Syrians in Idlib after a video conference call held with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, French President Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Boris Johnson on March 17 during which they discussed the Syrian refugee crisis, Libya and the coronavirus pandemic.

The first trial of suspected members of Syria's Bashar al-Assad's security services for crimes against humanity, including torturing and killing opposition activists, will start next month, a German court said on March 10.    

Turkey has a long history of conducting extreme operations with its secret services. The most traumatic of these for us was against the Greek minority in Istanbul in September 1955. On August 21, 2013, it was accused of launching a deadly sarin gas attack on a Damascus suburb, killing hundreds.

Opposition İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener has criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for a March 5 cease-fire deal agreed between Ankara and Moscow, suggesting it was Russia that gained an advantage in Idlib province of Syria.

Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), welcomed the March 5 cease-fire deal for Idlib between Russia and Turkey but warned that Ankara should hit back if the regime violates the truce.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said there had been no violations of the ceasefire in Syria's Idlib, as part of the agreement with Russia.

"We will continue to be a deterrent force to prevent any violation to the ceasefire. None occurred since ceasefire entered into force," Akar said in Turkey's southern Hatay province, bordering Syria.

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on March 3 addressed four questions to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, saying he should ask these to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their scheduled March 5 meeting.

Speaking during the parliamentary group meeting of the CHP, Kılıçdaroğlu asked Erdoğan to convey his questions to Putin.