Idlib truce brings uneasy calm

Syria's war-battered Idlib Province was quiet on Friday morning as a cease-fire deal between Moscow and Ankara took effect.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the agreement on Thursday evening, after six hours of talks in Moscow, in a bid to contain the conflict. The cease-fire went into force just after midnight that night.

The two leaders-which back opposing sides in the Syrian conflict-agreed to create a safety corridor six kilometers to the north and six kilometers to the south from the strategic M4 highway, which connects Aleppo in northern Syria with Latakia in the northwest.

The detailed arrangements on how the safety corridor functions will be agreed on between the Russian and Turkish defense ministries within seven days, the protocol for the agreement said.

Russia and Turkey will begin joint patrols of the M4 highway on March 15, according to the document, which was signed by the two countries' defense ministers.

Putin told a joint news conference after the talks that the agreement would "serve as a good basis for ending the fighting" in Idlib and for "stopping the suffering of the civilian population".

Erdogan said Turkey still reserves the right to "retaliate with all its strength against any attack" by Syrian government forces.

In a statement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he "hopes that this agreement will lead to an immediate and lasting cessation of hostilities that ensures the protection of civilians in northwest Syria".

In Idlib, residents and fighters said the main front lines were quiet hours after the cease-fire came in, the Reuters news agency reported.

Witnesses said there was only sporadic fire from machine guns, mortars and artillery on some front lines in northwestern Aleppo Province and southern Idlib Province.

There have been several ceasefire agreements over Idlib, and the one reached in the Russian city of Sochi in 2018 created the de-escalation zone in the region.

The latest deal looks a lot like a temporary measure, said Maxim Suchukov, an expert on international affairs at the Valdai International Discussion Club.

"Under the current circumstances any permanent deal was impossible, for the ambitions of the parties run too high, the public discourse is too emotional and the abilities to do something on the ground without further fueling the escalations are too limited," Suchukov said.

Migrants, police clash

Meanwhile, Greek authorities used tear gas and water cannon to repulse an attempt by migrants to push through the border from Turkey on Friday morning, while Turkish authorities fired volleys of tear gas on to the Greek side of the frontier.

Thousands of refugees and other migrants have been trying to get into Greece through the country's eastern land and sea borders over the past week, after Turkey declared its previously guarded borders with Europe were open.

Turkey has said it is deploying 1,000 special forces police officers on its side of the border to prevent Greek authorities from pushing back the migrants who managed to cross into Greece.

The United Nations said the uprooting of nearly a million people in Idlib marks the largest exodus of the nine-year civil war.

As the refugees rush toward the frontiers of the European Union, Greece reports that it has repulsed nearly 35,000 of them since Turkey's opening of the border nearly a week ago.

Agencies contributed to this story.