Syria's Bashar Assad regime is okay with Turkish military's presence in northwestern Syria's Idlib, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said yesterday.

Reminding of the Sochi deal that was signed between Turkey and Russia, Lavrov said the Syrian regime welcomed the agreements and agreed on Turkish military presence in the region, Russian news agency Ria Novosti reported.

The Sochi agreement was signed on Sept. 17 between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The deal established a cease-fire in Idlib, the last opposition stronghold in Syria, on the condition that heavy arms and extremist groups would withdraw from the region.

Prior to the agreement, the Bashar Assad regime was signaling at an expansive military operation in Idlib, sparking fears in the international community of a new humanitarian crisis.