German and French leaders called for an immediate end to attacks in Idlib, northwestern Syria, in a phone call with the Russian president, a government spokesman said on Thursday.
“IDLIB IS FACING A CATASTROPHIC HUMANITARIAN SITUATION”
Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, following their meeting in Brussels, held a joint phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed recent developments in Idlib, Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for the German government, said in a statement.
“They called for an immediate end to combat operations and an unhindered humanitarian access,” he said, adding that the civilians in Idlib were facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation.
“They also expressed their readiness to meet with President Putin and Turkish President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan to find a political situation to the crisis,” Seibert said.
Syria has been mired in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.