Syria reopens key highway to public after eight years
Activists report airstrikes on rebelheld villages, killing a child; Erdogan to hold summit with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany on March 5; UN suggests Tal Abiyad crossing to deliver aid to northeast
The highway that links the Syrian capital with the northern city of Aleppo is open for public use for the first time in nearly eight years after government forces recently captured parts of it that had been held by insurgents, Transport Minister Ali Hammoud said on Saturday.
The reopening of the M5 highway came as another Turkish soldier was killed in northwestern Syria in shelling by government forces, according to Turkish state media.
Hammoud said in remarks carried by state media that the highway is open to the public, adding that work has started on the railway leading to Aleppo and it should return to business in the coming months.
The opening of the highway reduces the trip between Damascus and Aleppo by about 90km compared to the desert road that had been in use over the past years, state news agency SANA said.
The M5 is a strategic highway that starts in southern Syria, near the border with Jordan, and runs all the way north to the city of Aleppo near the Turkish border.
The 450km highway links the country’s four largest cities and population centers: Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo, cutting through Idlib province.
Syrian opposition activists reported airstrikes on rebel-held villages leaving at least one civilian, a child, dead.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said he would hold a summit with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany on March 5 to discuss the situation in Idlib.
“We will come together on March 5 and discuss these issues,” Erdogan said in a televised speech, following a phone call on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his tele-conference with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The Turkish leader did not say where the summit would be held but his announcement comes a day after Macron and Merkel called for a four-party Syria summit also involving the Russian leader.
The two European Union heavyweights on Friday “expressed their willingness to meet President Putin and Turkish President Erdogan to find a political solution to the crisis,” the chancellor’s office said.
The United Nations suggested that the Tal Abiyad border crossing between Syria and Turkey could be used to deliver aid to civilians in northeast Syria after Russia and China blocked the world body from using a crossing point on the Iraqi border to provide help.
Council approval was needed because the Syrian government did not consent.
The 15-member council also asked SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres to report back this month on any possible alternative routes to the Al Yarubiyah crossing between Syria and Iraq to ensure aid deliveries.
“If viable alternatives to Al Yarubiah are not found for medical items, the gap between the humanitarian response and humanitarian needs will increase,” Guterres wrote in his report to the council, on Saturday.
“From a security and logistical perspective, in the current context, the Tal Abiyad border crossing would constitute the most feasible alternative,” he said.
The report said that in December 2019 there were 103 medical facilities being supported by aid groups across northeast Syria.
“These medical facilities received a significant amount of their medical supplies from the United Nations through Al Yarubiyah. At least 50 of these medical facilities were supported solely with medicines provided cross-border,” it said.
Also on Saturday, an unnamed Syrian military official issued a warning to Turkey that orders have been given to the country’s air defense units to open fire on warplanes that violate Syria’s airspace.
A Turkish soldier was killed in Idlib province, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Saturday. He was at least the 16th member of the Turkish military to die in February during an offensive by Syrian government forces.
Citing a statement from the governor of Turkey’s Gaziantep, the soldier’s home province, Anadolu said he was killed by “a bomb dropped by regime forces.” It named him as a member of a tank unit.