TEHRAN – Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Vershinin held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the latest developments in Syria, especially issues surrounding the northwestern province of Idlib.

According to ISNA, the diplomats attached great importance to close cooperation between Iran, Russia and Turkey within the framework of the Astana talks to silence guns in Syria.

In a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 29, President Hassan Rouhani urged revitalization of the Astana process on Idlib.

In the phone call, Putin said that the Astana peace process has been “effective”.

In line with their security cooperation, Iran, Turkey and Russia - three power brokers in Syria - launched the Astana peace talks on the Syrian crisis. The talks were launched in January 2017 with the aim of putting an end to the Syrian conflict.

Kazakhstan has hosted multiple rounds of talks on Syria since January 2017 most of which involved delegations from the Syrian government and opposition.

Ankara is directly involved in the clash against Syrian forces as part of a bid to help armed opposition groups, who have formed a military alliance with the terrorist groups, to halt advance of Syrian forces in Idlib.

However, Turkey and Russia announced a cease-fire in Idlib that came into effect at midnight on Thursday.

According to Press TV, Turkish-backed militants on Saturday violated the ceasefire 19 times over a period of 24 hours and shelled the villages of Hazaren and Dar al-Kabira in Idlib’s southern countryside.

“Over the past day, 19 violations of the cessation of hostilities by illegal armed groups have been recorded,” SANA quoted head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Coordination Center Rear Admiral Oleg Zhuravlev as saying.

NA/PA