Does Turkey have the will to take on jihadis in Idlib?
Turkey and Russia will continue to be at odds in Syria's Idlib due to radical groups like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
The coronavirus pandemic is dominating the news in Turkey today, steering public attention away from Idlib, Syria, where Ankara is increasingly caught between a rock and a hard place.
The situation in the northwestern Syrian province continues to be volatile, despite the fragile cease-fire reached between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 5.
The jihadi groups that Ankara has maintained some degree of contact with in the region remain Turkey’s Achilles’ heel in its dealings with Russia over Idlib.
These groups also pose an obstacle to Ankara as it tries to achieve its immediate goals in the province. Turkey’s principal aim is to establish safe zones there to house the millions of Syrian refugees it hosts.
