Arab media highlights Erdogan’s efforts for Idlib

By Mahmoud Barakat

TUNIS

The Arab media has highlighted the remarks of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about avoiding a "potential catastrophe" in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province in its coverage of the outcome of the tripartite summit.

The Bashar al-Assad regime recently announced plans to launch a major military offensive in Idlib, which is controlled by various armed opposition groups.

On Friday, the leaders of Iran, Russia and Turkey met in Tehran to discuss the situation and planned an offensive in Idlib by the Assad regime.

"The Syrian conflict will end only through a political process," the Qatari daily Al-Sharq reported Saturday.

"Erdogan calls for resolving the issue of Idlib without catastrophe," the newspaper said, referring to the Turkish president's speech in which he gave utmost importance to the protection of civilians in the region.

The Qatari newspaper Al-Watan gave coverage under the title "Turkish president stresses the need to resolve the issue of Idlib without new tragedies and tensions".

"Turkey will not be a partner and a spectator" if the killing of tens of thousands of innocent people gets ignored in the interest of the Syrian regime, Erdogan was quoted as saying.

"We will not accept to leave Idlib at the mercy of the Assad regime," Al-Watan quoted Erdogan in another coverage of the summit.

In its follow-up to the summit, the Qatari newspaper Al-Raya also printed several prominent headlines, including "the conclusion of the Tehran tripartite summit with an agreement to address the situation in Idlib".

Also, the London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed used the title “the tripartite summit ends in Tehran amid divergence over Idlib”.

Qatar's Al Jazeera led its coverage of the summit with “Erdogan on Idlib: We won't watch from the sidelines”.

Iraq’s state-run Sabah newspaper reported that Erdogan said the next summit will be in Russia, asserting that Ankara will not spare any effort to achieve stability in the region.

Al Nahar Lebanese daily newspaper said in its title “Countdown in Idlib after failure of Tehran summit”.

“The day after the failure of a summit in Tehran, fears have risen of an attack by regime forces and the new humanitarian disaster that will ensue in the last stronghold of the opposition where three million people live,” the newspaper said.

Egypt’s flagship Al-Ahram covered the summit under the title: “In the Tehran summit, divergence about the fate of Idlib and agreeing on rejecting the U.S. presence.”

Located near the Turkish border, Idlib is home to more than 3 million Syrians, many of whom fled from other cities following attacks by regime forces.