The summit Friday between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Russian President Vladimir Putin may determine whether diplomacy halts any military action ahead of an anticipated offensive targeting the northwestern Syrian province.
The leaders each held bilateral talks before the meeting began in Tehran. As photographers took pictures of the three leaders Rouhani, smiling, reached for both of their hands.
Idlib province and surrounding areas are home to about 3 million people — nearly half of them civilians displaced from other parts of Syria. That also includes an estimated 10,000 hard-core fighters, including al-Qaida-linked militants.
Early on Friday, a series of airstrikes struck villages in southwest Idlib, targeting opposition posts and killing a fighter, said Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Abdurrahman said suspected Russian warplanes carried out the attack.
Eight leading aid agencies also warned Friday that "once again, it will be the most vulnerable who will pay the heaviest price." They appealed to world leaders to "urgently work together to avoid this horrific scenario."
Later Friday, the U.N. Security Council was also due to meet, at Washington's request, to discuss Idlib.
