The presidents of Russia and Turkey, which are backing different sides in the Syrian conflict, are due to meet in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi on September 17 for talks on an expected Syrian government offensive on the last rebel stronghold in the country’s northwest.
The meeting comes 10 days after a summit between Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and their Iranian counterpart, President Hassan Rohani, failed to produce a compromise in a bid to avert an assault in Idlib Province, which the Turkish president has warned would ignite a “bloodbath.”
