BREAKING NEWS

Turkish officials deny reports of Russia deal to open Syria crossings

Turkish officials denied on Thursday Russian reports that Turkey had agreed this week to open three crossing points in northwest Syria between opposition and government-held territory.
Russian news agencies had reported that Russia's military said it had agreed with Turkey to open two crossing points in northwest Syria's Idlib region and one near Aleppo to address humanitarian difficulties.
 
The Turkish officials said Russia proposed to open the Abu Zandin, Saraqeb and Miznaz crossing points on Feb. 1 and that the gates had remained open until Feb. 24, but that no passage requests had been received. Crossing points opened in the region in the past "were not used very effectively," they said.