On May 21, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a trilateral phone discussion about Syria and Ukraine.
Escalatory fighting over Idlib was one of the issues that dominated the agenda. The Syrian regime has lately been engaged in a large-scale military assault against the terrorist groups entrenched in the area, with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham being by far the most active and dangerous one.