OREANDA-NEWS. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that the new military operation of the Republic’s Armed Forces in the Syrian city of Idlib is only a matter of time.

"Turkey has completed preparations to implement its Idlib plan, as we did in previous operations. Frankly, the operation in Idlib is just a matter of time. Turkey won't leave Idlib to the mercy of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad", the Turkish leader said speaking to the party members in parliament.

The Turkish president stressed that his country "is determined to pay any price to ensure the security of both Idlib and Turkey". Over the past weeks, Ankara has been demanding the withdrawal of the Syrian army in Idlib province to the positions stipulated in the Sochi memorandum. Erdogan has already threatened Damascus to take steps to force them out of their current positions.

Erdogan also did not rule out that Washington could support Ankara on the issue of a new military operation. Meanwhile, on the eve of Trump said that the United States and Turkey are closely cooperating in resolving the situation in Idlib.