Turkey warns Syria against ‘offensive’

Turkey’s foreign minister yesterday warned against a possible Syrian government offensive on the last remaining stronghold of opposition against President Bashar Assad, while Russia indicated that it was losing its patience with the rebels.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, who was in Moscow for talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, said Russia and Turkey should work to separate opposition groups from “terrorists” in the north-west province of Idlib.

He warned against a government offensive there, saying that it would cause a “humanitarian catastrophe”.