Turkey, Russia agree on demilitarized zone in Idlib

The leaders of Russia and Turkey agreed Monday to establish a demilitarized zone in Syria’s Idlib region, the last major stronghold of anti-government rebels where fears had been running high of a devastating offensive by government forces.

The zone will be established by Oct. 15 and be 9 to 12 miles deep, with troops from Russia and NATOmember Turkey conducting coordinated patrols, President Vladimir Putin said at the end of a more than three-hour meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi.

The deal marked a significant agreement between the two leaders and effectively delays an offensive by Syria and its Russian and Iranian allies, one that Turkey fears would create a humanitarian crisis near its border.

Putin said “radical militants” would have to withdraw from the zone. Among them would be those from the al-Qaidalinked Hayat Tahrir alSham - Arabic for Levant Liberation Committee. The group denies it is linked to al-Qaida.

It was not immediately clear exactly how the deal would be implemented in the province, which is home to more than 3 million Syrians and an estimated 60,000 rebel fighters from various groups.

That’s according to a statement from press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Trump is making the extraordinary move in response to calls from his allies in Congress who say they believe the Russia investigation was tainted by anti-Trump bias within the ranks of the FBI and Justice Department.

Trump is declassifying about 20 pages of the warrant obtained to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and FBI interviews conducted to secure that warrant.

The move comes as Trump continues his efforts to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.