Trump urges Russia to stop supporting atrocities in Syria

US President Donald Trump has urged Russia to stop supporting the “atrocities” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the White House announced on Sunday.

During a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump expressed concern over the violence in Idleb, in northwestern Syria, and expressed the wish to see Russia end its support for the atrocities of the Assad regime, said the US presidency.

Syrian regime troops, supported by air strikes by its Russian ally, recently intensified their assault on the Idleb region, where the last rebel stronghold is located, killing hundreds of people.

Under a de-escalation agreement concluded in 2018 between Moscow and Ankara, Turkey has twelve observation posts in the province of Idleb. But tension has increased between Ankara and Moscow after 14 Turks were killed in the bombing of Syrian government forces in the region.

A Turkish delegation is scheduled to visit Moscow this Monday. Russian officials last week visited Turkey but the visit failed to yield any concrete agreement.