Syria

The United States dispatched two senior diplomats for talks with Turkish officials and to pay a visit to the Turkish southern provinces of Hatay and Gaziantep on the Syrian border amid the ongoing conflict between Turkey and the Syrian regime over Idlib province.

Turkey's president spoke via telephone with his French counterpart about the recent situation in Idlib, northwestern Syria, the Turkish Communications Directorate announced on March 1. 

Turkey and Russia have agreed to reduce tensions on the ground in Syria's Idlib province while continuing military action there, the Russian foreign ministry said on Feb. 29 following several days of talks in Ankara.

Refugees and migrants arrive with a dinghy accompanied by Frontex vessels at the village of Skala Sikaminias, on the Greek island of Lesvos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on Friday.

Turkey will no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe, a senior Turkish official said, as Ankara responded on Feb. 29 to the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in an airstrike by Syrian government forces in Syria's northwestern Idlib region.

A Damascus passenger plane landed at Aleppo Airport,marking the resumption of flights between Syria's two largest cities for the first time since 2012, the Associated Press reported.

The U.N.'s humanitarian affairs chief called on Feb. 17 for an immediate ceasefire to be implemented in northwest Syria to prevent "the biggest humanitarian horror story of the 21st Century."

Syrian government air strikes backed by Russia have hit hospitals and displaced persons camps in northwest Syria and killed about 300 civilians as President Bashar al-Assad's forces press an assault against the last rebel stronghold, the United Nations said on Feb. 18.

The European Union has imposed additional sanctions in Syria against eight people and two companies, the European Council announced on Monday.

The Council noted that eight "prominent" Syrian businessmen were added to the sanctions list as their "activities directly benefited the Assad regime, including through projects on land alienated by people displaced by the conflict ".

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli on Feb. 11 condemned an attack by the Syrian regime on Turkish troops in Idlib province of Syria and called on the Turkish government to reassess its relations with Russia, Damascus' main ally.